Of Dinosaurs and Tea
by Zabby Perno
Summary: Why is Hatter wanting to come to Aboveland so bad? And who is that guy that looks like Hatter? And why is Alice being chased by a Spinosaurus? Post Season 1 Episode 5 Primeval, Post Alice—AU ending.
1. Through the Looking Glass, Again

**Name:** Of Dinosaurs and Tea

**Author: **Forensic Fan '93

**Beta:** LAB Rats, Nick Nagisa, Kittyinaz, duchessfaleen

**Genre:** Family, Sci-Fi, Romance

**Characters:** Abby Maitland, Alice Hamilton, Carol Hamilton, Claudia Bishop, Connor Temple, David Temple, Ilane of Diamonds, Jack Heart, James Lester, Mallerie Mouse, Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart.

**Mentioned:** Connor and David's parents.

**Set After:** Series 1, Episode 5, and two months after Series 1, Episode 4.

Of Dinosaurs and Tea—Chapter 1—Through the Looking Glass, Again

**A/N:** This is one of the author's notes that I will be doing. This was inspired by Kittyinaz's Alice and Hatter. So, really, go read it. It's amazing and well written. :D The idea of Connor and Hatter being twin brothers bit me and wouldn't let me go. So, I bounced the idea off my wonderful sister Nick Nagisa. She wouldn't let me stop even if I wanted to. This is a late birthday present for her. And Helen and Stephen never had an affair in this universe and it was only a lie that Helen came up with to try and split up the Home Office team. This is only going to be four chapters and an epilogue. There will be a sequel. Promise, promise, promise, because I'm setting up for it in the epilogue.

**Word Count: **20,146—all four chapters plus the epilogue

**Summary: **Why is Hatter wanting to come to Aboveland so bad? And who is that guy that looks like Hatter? And why is Alice being chased by a Spinosaurus? Post Season 1 Episode 5 Primeval, Post Alice—AU ending.

**Disclaimer:** *looks around doctors office* If I owned Alice '09 or Primeval, I wouldn't be here. Do wish I owned Stephen though…

Connor Charles and David Ascot Hightopp looked at each other for what seemed to be the last time. Connor's research had caught the attention of the Queen of Hearts and this warranted what was to come. Neither of them went by their real last name because the Queen of Hearts would execute them, so they went by their grandmother on their mother's side maiden name.

Although they were identical twins, they were as different as night and day. Connor was the more inclined to science of the two. David had a head for business and being a con man.

While Connor knew his way around a ledger in his brother's Tea Shoppe, he was more interested in why the Tea did not affect David whose nickname was Hatter to everyone but his brother and Connor as much as the other inhabitants of Wonderland. It was due to his research into the Tea that made this separation for the twins to be necessary.

"Well," Hatter said, looking his brother over, "this is it."

"Yeah," Connor mumbled, looking at his feet. "If you ever need something from Aboveground, let me know. I'm still your big brother."

Hatter smirked at his little brother, "That's borogrove shit and you know it. Mum told us I was older."

Connor chuckled and said, "I'd best get going if I'm to meet Caterpillar and Turtle at the Rabbit Hole."

Hatter did something that was unheard of between the two brothers. He pulled Connor into a hug.

Connor hugged his twin tightly and said, "Come get me after you've toppled the new Bluddy Behg Hed. Mum and Da would be so proud…"

Hatter nodded. "Of course," he said, pretending to preen.

Connor backed out of the hug, and backed away. "Good luck, Dave."

"You too, Con."

And Connor Hightopp was known no more to Wonderland. At least, for the next ten years. She sighed. It was a shame the twins were splitting up…

—•—•—•—

Connor Temple looked around London and knew something was different. It didn't have the feeling of an anomaly. He sighed as Rex squeaked at him.

—•—•—•—

Hatter smiled in relief. Alice had agreed to let him come with her to her world. His brother's world, though Alice didn't know that. He'd need to tell her soon.

The feelings from the Twin Bond from Connor were less and less powerful with each passing day.

—•—•—•—

Abby poked her head into the living from the loft. "Connor, Stephen called. We have another anomaly."

Connor hid his fear well. "Let me grab my hat." A Temple without a hat was a sin after all!

—•—•—•—

Alice and Hatter smiled at each other as they stood in front of the looking glass, hands clasped together. The technician at their back said, "Now, just remember to breathe," and pushed.

Of course, Hatter forgot to do just that.

—•—•—•—

It was a good thing that Abby was driving. A very good thing, indeed.

Connor felt as if he had forgotten how to breathe. If he'd been driving, they most certainly would have crashed right through the barrier on the right.

—•—•—•—

Hatter finally remembered to take a breath, as Alice grabbed his hand tightly.

Suddenly, something happened neither of them expected at all.

The jerk sideways was enough to make you lose your lunch, the conman decided.

—•—•—•—

_"When I meet up with Dave again, I am going to kill him. Slowly and surely. Maybe I can get Stephen to loan me a gun…"_Connor mused as his stomach lurched. He never did like the fact that they could feel—in really bad situations—what the other was feeling. Why now?

—•—•—•—

Hatter called over to Alice, "Did it take this long last time?"

She shook her head and yelled back, "No! There's the end though!"

—•—•—•—

Abby pulled into the parking lot she was given the address for.

Cutter and Stephen were standing there, staring at a… "It's the bloody Looking Glass!" Connor said, running up to his team. Luckily no one else had arrived yet.

Cutter glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow as if to say, explain.

Everyone watched as Connor walked over to it. Before he could touch it, Stephen snapped, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. I know where this leads. This is no anomaly," Connor replied.

He had turned his back to the Looking Glass to address his friend, therefore didn't notice the Glass rippling behind him.

"Con—!" Abby yelled.

—•—•—•—

As Alice and Hatter reached the end, Hatter grabbed Alice, wrapping his arms around her as he twisted his body to take the impact.

But the impact wasn't hard concrete like they were expecting.

—•—•—•—

Something hard smashed into Connor that sent him flying forward.

Protecting his face as best he could, he landed with whoever had come out of the Glass on top of him. His voice was muffled as he said, "Git OBB me!" He felt the blood trickle over his hand.

The weight lifted off him as a gasp came from Abby and Claudia. Connor rolled over and accepted the hand extended to help him up. "Here, ma…"

"Dabid!"

"Connor!"

The twins hadn't seen each other in ten years.

The girl who had arrived with the Connor-lookalike muttered, "Well, Toto, I'm sure as hell not in Kansas anymore."

Abby, who had heard her, snickered.

"Temple, what the hell is going on?" Stephen spat. It was quite easy to tell that the man was not happy.

The two Connors turned to Stephen, though one kept glancing at the girl he came with, and the one dressed as Connor said, "I'b sowwy, Stephen. I bent to bell you ebentually."

The newcomer twin said, "Got yourself a job out in the field instead of a lab, eh, Con? Got yourself a girlfriend yet, little bro?"

Abby's jaw dropped. Connor had an older brother?

The others all had looks of shock on their faces that showed the same emotion.

Connor then turned and took his left hand and punched his brother, sending him flying back. "Thab's for doing wabeber the hell you were doobing." He stalked over to Stephen and said, "Gun."

"No." Stephen moved his gun away from Connor's hand. He then asked him, "Connor, what the hell is going on?"

"Con…" the lookalike said as he moved in front of Alice in case his twin had followed in their father's footsteps. He was rubbing his shoulder. "Downal wyth Bluddy Bihg Hed."

The woman he was protecting said, "Hatter, what the hell is going on here?"

Connor turned to face the man named Hatter. "She's gone? She's really gone and Caterpillar put someone on the throne?" The bleeding had stopped due to their faster healing powers, thanks to their aunt.

"Yes. Alice here brought down the whole house of bloody cards. Jack Heart is on the throne." Hatter replied to his brother's question.

"I'm going to ask how many times people asked if she was the one of legend," Connor said, rubbing his left eye. "Jack Heart? We have another Heart on the throne?"

Alice was fuming. "Who the hell are you?"

Connor turned to her. "Connor Temple. Dave here is my twin brother. Don't listen to what he says. I'm older."

"That's still borogrove shit and you know it, Con. Mum told us many times I was older," Hatter said, grinning. "And yeah Jack Heart is on the throne, he was a Resistance insider."

After listening to the two of them, Cutter decided enough was enough. To try to give him time to deal with this, Cutter said, "Let's get back to Home One. I want to know what the hell is going on."

Trying to keep up with the conversation, Alice asked, "Your name is Dave, Hatter?"

Hatter answered her, "I prefer Hatter."

Connor objected, "Only because Da passed the hat onto you."

"Which proves I'm older," Hatter said, as he slang an arm across his twin's shoulder. "So, Con, how's life?" he asked as Connor dragged him to the car he and Abby had arrived in.

Alice interrupted. "Excuse me? Where the hell are we?"

Stephen looked over at her as he answered, "London."

Alice replied a little shocked, "Ho, boy. I'm definitely not in Kansas."

Abby caught Alice's arm. "C'mon, let's get you and your Connor to the flat." The Temple twins were already sitting in the back of the car, as they talked excitedly and motioned using their hands.

Alice climbed into the passenger seat as Abby started the car. Used to living with Connor, she ignored the noises and weird words coming from the back seat. Abby asked, "So, what's your name?"

"Alice. Alice Hamilton. Yours?" Alice asked, happy to have some normality in the madness that had been her life over the past three days.

Abby shook her short blond hair out of her eyes and she glanced at Alice. She had no idea what Connor and his twin brother were talking about, but everything was screaming at her that Alice needed stability. "Abby. Abby Maitland. You don't have a British accent. Where are you from?"

"New York… It's been so hellishly hectic over the past few days…" She gasped. "What day is it?" she asked, grabbing the oh shit bar.

Abby looked over at her, puzzled. "It's the 6th… Why?"

The confused look on Alice's face was enough to prompt the question. "You guys are five hours ahead of New York. It's 8:00 AM here. That means it's 3:00 AM there. I've been missing for 4 hours. Oh, my God, Mom's going to kill me."

Abby took her left hand off the steering wheel. "Don't worry, Alice. We'll just talk to Lester and get him to smooth it over with your government. That way, you'll be here legally and everything will be all right."

There was a brief silence between the two girls and the only noise was from the back of the car.

Abby couldn't contain her curiosity anymore and just asked, "I am curious though… Where were you?"

Alice laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh, or a humorous laugh. It was a sarcastic laugh. "You'd never believe me if I told you."

The blond raised an eyebrow. "I'll believe a lot of things. You wouldn't believe what I see on a daily basis."

Alice decided to just spit it out and see what happened. "Wonderland."

Abby blinked at the word. "In a fictional kids' story?" she asked, disbelief lacing her tone. "I'll buy a lot of shit, but fictional?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah. I didn't believe I was there either at first. And it's nothing like the book. At all." She rolled up the sleeve of her jacket to take a look at the Oyster mark. It was still there, only much fainter than it ever was in Wonderland, even after she started believing in it. "See that? I didn't have a tattoo when I left last night. To get rid of the tattoo, I was told I had to believe in Wonderland. It was starting to fade."

The herpetologist glanced at the mark before shifting her eyes back to the road. "So who's the other Connor person in the back of my car?"

"Hatter. At least, that's what he told me his name was. I saw Jack—my boyfriend at the time—being kidnapped, so I followed and fell through a mirror. Hatter was the third person I met in Wonderland. Agent White, then Ratty, who then 'sold' me to Hatter for Tea." Alice rambled. What with everything that had happened, Alice was a bit surprised she was not insane already.

"Tea? Ratty sold you for some Earl Grey?" Abby asked, once again disbelieving, as she tried to follow the story.

"I wish. For years, The White Rabbit organization has been kidnapping normal people, like you and me. They would brand them, and take them to the Heart's Casino, where they would then drain them of all emotions to make Emotion Tea. The people who were addicted to it were called Tea-Heads," Alice explained. "You'd really have to ask Hatter. He lived through it and sold the stuff, so he could sneak food and things like that to the resistance. Anyway, then Hatter took me to one branch of the Resistance, headed by Dodo—"

"Dodo? As in the dodo bird?" Abby glanced back to Connor, as she remembered the pain he had gone through with the death of his friend due to some dodo birds.

"Yeah. Complete and utter moron too," Alice said, snorting at the memory of the idiot in the Great Library. "So Dodo shot Hatter—surprised me they have guns there. But hey, they had electricity too, so I shouldn't have been too shocked—and the bastard about gave me a heart attack because I thought Hatter had died and turns out the asshole was wearing a Kevlar Vest!"

Abby shook her head. "Wow…And he didn't tell you. Sounds like something Connor would do."

Alice nooded in agreement then continued, "We had to escape on this tiny little boat because there was this guy with a ceramic rabbit head coming after us. The guy gave me the creeps. Then Hatter almost got me eaten by a jabberwock. As we ran away from the jabberwock, we literally fell into a pit with spikes and Charlie—an old, White Knight—found us. We stayed with Charlie that night." Alice paused. "You know what? This is sounding stupider the more I tell you about it."

Abby spared her a glance as she drove and tried to encourage her to continue, "It's actually quite interesting."

"Well, then I got myself captured by Mad March—the rabbit guy—and taken before the queen. Found out that the guy who I thought was named Jack Chase and my boyfriend, was actually Jack Heart—"

Abby interrupted her as she mused out loud, "Which explains why Connor was saying stuff about another Heart being on the throne earlier… I think I get it now."

Alice continued, "My Dad had been missing for years… At least since I was 10."

Abby commented, "Long time."

Alice nodded agreeing, as she answered Abby, "Almost too long. Hatter and Charlie rescued me from the Casino, and we went back to the Kingdom of the Knights, where we had originally met Charlie. Hatter went for to set up a meeting with Caterpillar, who sent Jack to fetch me. I went with them, found out my father was still alive and well. He was dosed with Forgetfulness and Denial which made him forget about Mom and me. Mad March caught us again. He caught Hatter too, because Hatter decided to risk his neck to try and save me. The Queen then had me banished from Wonderland. I escaped and somehow managed to topple the monarchy… Still don't know how."

"Hmm… Normally I wouldn't believe such bullshit, but I think I do believe you," Abby said, giving Alice a half smile.

Alice leaned her head back. "Thanks, Abby. What do you do for a living?"

"I deal with prehistoric animals on a daily basis." Abby deadpanned.

The brunette snorted. "Sounds much more interesting than teaching Karate each day."

Abby smirked as she answered, "Basically we have to make sure that they don't escape and that no one gets hurt from them."

Alice nodded. "Sounds interesting…"

While the girls were talking, Connor and David were talking about all that had happened.

"So," Connor whispered, "she's out of power? And Jack Heart was a Resistance member? That-that's almost just too much to believe…"

Hatter nodded. "Tell me a bit about your life here, mate. I mean, pretty blonde in the front of this contraption."

"Car, Dave. Car. And I'm not dating Abby. What about you and that Alice bird? What is it with our family and women named Alice?" Connor asked, shaking his head. "Or A names all together. Da and Mum. Grandda Andrew and Grandmum Abigail," he said, referring to their long dead grandparents on their Da's side of the family. They died when the Jabberwock attacked a celebration held for the White Queen. "So how'd you meet this Alice?"

"You tell me what the bloody hell your job is, and why we came out wyth bluddy guns pointed at us?" Hatter asked, a bit of Outlandish slipping in.

"Remember the old stories about Da murdering Time for Mum? Well, that's basically what's happening here. Time here is a constant. Someone is ripping it apart, bit by bit. One of my best friends died in my arms last month. I left to escape death and destruction, David. And I've known Tom since I moved here." Connor told his brother, beseeching him to understand.

Hatter put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Connor." He knew his brother had none of the Hightopp stomach for the darker side of life as he and their Da did. Neither of them liked it, but they dealt with it.

"This parasite killed Tom and there was nothing I could do about it. He's why I'm still on the team. Plus, Cutter's making me," Connor said, sarcasm lacing his voice on his last few words.

Hatter looked at his brother. "Con, if you guys need help, I'm here for you."

Connor nodded, distracted.

Everyone in the automobile was silent as Abby parked it. She said, "Let's go inside and get everyone settled."

"Beware," Connor said, "It's a bit…warm…in there."

* * *

><p>Remember to review please. It makes an insecure author happy and willing to post next week instead of dreading it.<p> 


	2. Running, Always Running

Of Dinosaurs and Tea—Chapter 2—Running, Always Running

A/N: Because I didn't like 1.6 (I mean, come on! Claudia disappears after Cutter kissed her in 1.5! I was not happy), everything after 1.5 is going to be AU in the fact that no one dies. So, very AU, luvs! Any addresses are not real and just off the top of my head. Apology time. I meant to have this out on Friday, but I spent Friday in my state capital with a group I belong to, then I got slammed with a cold. Songs used: **Poker Face by Lady Gaga** (Tucker would be so proud of me!) and **Benzin by Rammstein**. And while I'm ranting…

DISCLAIMER: I am a poor senior in high school looking for ways to pay for college in the fall. You tell me if I own this.

"Abby and Connor's love shack, Connor's brother speaking," Hatter said cheerfully into the phone.

_"Either you hand the phone to Connor, or stop being an idiot, David!"_ Abby snapped. _"Cutter called. We have another anomaly, and we don't know where the hell it's leading! I've got Alice with me. Get Connor and get over to Home Office!"  
><em>  
>She only called him David if she was really pissed. The conman blinked. He held the phone away from his body and said, "Con, you might wanna pick up the phone… Abby sounds kinda ticked."<p>

Lester had semi-politely (for him, at any rate) contacted the NYPD and informed them that he had had one Alice Hamilton brought over for various reasons for a secret project. It had also involved a very long talk with Carol Hamilton that involved her shouting at Lester. Connor had been jumping for joy that someone had brought his boss's boss down a peg.

Basically, Lester had Alice teaching the team her form of karate. And he had yet to meet Hatter.

Connor picked up the said other phone, and said, "'Ello, Abbs."

_"We have an anomaly. Cutter wants you to meet us at…"_ There was a pause and a rustling sound as if she was pulling something out of a purse. Abby continued, _"5055 NE Fifth Avenue."_ Then Abby hung up on her flat mate.

"Well," Connor said, looking at the offending piece of technology. "That was sweet of her."

His twin rolled his eyes. "Get dressed. We gotta go, because I don't want to see what a pissed Cutter looks like." Over the past week, the team had assembled to see if they could come up with ways to track the anomalies. So far nothing had come to their attention, though Connor was sure he was on the edge of a break. Hatter had gotten to know the team better than when they had first arrived. Cutter wasn't the prick as Hatter thought he was. Stephen was as good a conversationalist as he was with a gun. The cherry on top though, to Hatter, was that Alice and Abby were getting along.

In their separate rooms, the twins both got an evil smile on their faces, and poked their heads out of their rooms. Connor smirked, and said, "Give me."

Hatter's evil face matched his brother's as they tossed shirts, pants, vests, and jackets. The clothes that Hatter passed his brother included a paisley shirt very similar to the one he was wearing when he had met Alice, the baggy jeans that Connor had gotten him hooked on, fingerless gloves very similar to Connor's, a form fitting waistcoat that showed off just how fit he was, and his favorite brown jacket. He was going to miss that jacket while Connor was wearing it. Connor passed over the solid color shirt—a navy blue—along with his favorite scarf. After all, Connor without a scarf was a scary thought. He also tossed his favorite red fingerless gloves, his jeans that he was going to wear, and his own black vest. They both tossed the hats onto their twin's head, thankful that they had practiced that trick when they were kids. Once the grey hat was settled on Hatter's head, and the tan hat was settled on Connor's head, the twins were set to take on the Home Office team.

Hatter said, "Well, 'ello, Hatter."

Connor's eyes gleamed with mischief matching his twin's as he said, "Hello, Con."

The real Connor drove them to the address his flat mate had given him. "C'mon, let's get going, Conn."

Alice glanced over at her boyfriend and his twin. She furrowed her eyebrows. Something was wrong; she just didn't know what it was.

Abby, who was standing beside her friend, was staring at the Temple twins. Something was off. "Alice…"

"You too?" Alice felt relieved that her friend could see something was wrong…

"Are they trying to creep us out?" Abby whispered as "Connor" set up his laptop. "Because it's kinda working…"

Alice nodded. "It is… Did they _really_switch on us?" she asked her friend, looking over at her incredulously.

Stephen turned to Hatter and said, "Connor, we have to figure out where this anomaly goes."

"Have we got anything through it yet?" Hatter asked, pretending he knew what he was doing.

Connor snorted and Cutter turned to him and said over his shoulder to Hatter, "Connor, why did you bring your brother? Because this could get dangerous." Truer words never were spoken.

The real Connor snorted again. "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah," Alice whispered. "Hatter managed to get himself captured SO many times… he really can take care of himself…" She rolled her eyes.

Hatter snuck a glance at his girlfriend, hoping that she didn't realize they had changed spots. "Cutter, there's so many places that this could come from…" He wanted to get rid of the scarf, but since his brother was never seen without one really.

He was cut off from speaking by the anomaly shifting in front of them. A small green dinosaur walked through the anomaly. Its slender jaw was tilted sideways as if it curiously smelled the new world it had just stumbled into. Its brown eyes looked inquisitively around its new environment. It was a _Procompsognathus_, also affectionately known as Compy thanks to Michael Creighton's "Jurassic Park" and "Lost World". Alice was suddenly thankful for her mother's work when Alice was a child.

Connor blinked. Hatter blinked. The older Temple twin had no idea what to type in, so Connor sidled over and whispered, "_Procompsognathus_."

Alice squeaked. "A compy? Really? This is what you guys needed martial arts for?" she asked, rounding on Cutter. "A fucking compy? It's the size of a chicken!"

Hatter looked up at her. "Just because it's the size of a chicken doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. I mean, look at you," he said. Connor had made the mistake of underestimating Alice's ability to throw someone twice her weight across the room, and Hatter was capitalizing on that.

Connor wanted to glare at his brother, but knew that would cause the shit to hit the fan with Cutter and Stephen. He wanted to be FAR away when they figured out which twin was which.

Alice snorted. "They ate feces, Connor. How deadly are they going to be to humans?"

"They can still cause mayhem. How would you like to be driving along and have one of those hop on the bonnet of your car?" Claudia asked from slightly behind Cutter. She was not too fond of chicken-sized creatures—or turkey-sized creatures—since the dodos.

The compy walked over to Abby and Alice, looking up at them. It chirped. Both young women knelt down to its level. Alice murmured, "For something that interrupted our shopping, it's a cute little thing."

"Most of the small ones are. You've seen Rex," Abby muttered back. "It's the big ones you need to watch out for."

It tilted its green head and chirped again. "That's its way of communicating," Cutter said, coming to stand by them. "Some think that that's how they would call their pack, for lack of a better word, and attack. But, they were mainly scavengers that ate feces and insects."

Alice smiled brightly down at it. "Well, it's cute."

Abby nodded her agreement. "Not as cute as Rex, though."

"No lizard could be as cute as Rex," Alice said, smirking down at it. "I mean, Rex flies around. Compys eat dung. Literally."

"How do you know so much about lizards and prehistoric animals?" Cutter asked, placing his hands in his pockets.

Alice was suddenly transported back years and years.

"_Now, Alice, I'll be back in a couple of days. Promise me you'll be good for your daddy?" Carol asked, looking up from packing her suitcase._

_The seven year old girl nodded happily at her mother. "I will, Mommy!" she promised. And she would to the best of her ability. "Where are you going, Mommy?"_

_Carol smiled at her daughter. "I'm going to Egypt, sweetie. They've found some of those old bones they want me to look at."_

_Two nights, later, Alice was sitting up WAY past her bedtime with her Daddy. The news was on, and Daddy said, "Alice, look! Your Mommy's on the news!"_

_And sure enough, Carol Hamilton was talking about the bones that had been discovered._

Alice sighed, coming back to the land of the living. "Before my Dad disappeared, Mom would fly around the world for digs. She's a paleontologist. Dr. Carol Hamilton."

Cutter stared in amazement. Seems like little Alice really was full of surprises. "Your mum is Carol Hamilton?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah. She stopped going on digs to stay home to raise me. Mom teaches at New York State University. She loves it at NYSU."

She cut herself off. Alice didn't know how much her mother wanted revealed about her life now. Not that it was anything bad, but Alice blamed herself for pulling her mother out of the field on some level or another.

She shook herself out of her reverie as Abby said, "Hey, Conn, where does this little guy come from?"

Alice was thankful for her friend's quick thinking. And when had she started referring to this group of misfit scientists as her friends? Cutter, Stephen, Claudia… Abby was already practically like a sister to her. After only a week. Who would have thought?

She was madly in love with Hatter, though she hadn't really said so yet.

Connor was already much more assertive. The Hatter in the Connor, as she liked to say in her mind. She'd already seen the Connorish part of Hatter, when he was asking her if he could come with her to her world.

"Connor's" voice brought her back to the land of the living. Alice had to wonder how many times they'd played this trick on their parents as children. Suddenly, Alice had a very real sympathy for parents of twins.

"It's from the late-Triassic. It's not particularly dangerous to us. It was a scavenger and, like Alice said, it ate feces." It amazed even Hatter at how much he sounded like Connor.

"Claudia, I want to go through," Cutter said.

The PR woman turned to him. "Are you insane? Last time that happened, bad things happened! Your ex-wife tried to kill us!"

"Yes, but then she saved you, if you're having trouble recalling that," the professor spat. "I need to see what's going on over there. I have a very bad feeling about this."

Everyone was silent as they watched Cutter and Claudia stare off. Captain Ryan and Stephen rolled their eyes. Abby and Alice sighed. This could take a while.

The wind ruffled Claudia's skirt. The wind also blew Alice's hair into her face causing her to pull her hair back with the hair tie she now kept around her wrist at all times. She'd learned her lesson in Wonderland. Always carry extra hair ties.

The birds that had nested in the building beside them chirped with either hunger or agitation at someone invading their space, she couldn't tell which.

Hatter and Connor raised their eyebrows as the time passed slowly. They thought the two of them were bad in their staring contests! But Cutter and Claudia had them beat with their stubbornness, hands down.

Alice glanced between the two and sighed again. She wished she had a watch to look at. _Yes, this could take A VERY long while_. Alice thought to herself.

Alice had to keep herself from humming the Jeopardy! theme song as Cutter and Claudia stared each other down. She took to humming it in her head. It was after about five or six rousing renditions of the theme song that there was a winner in the silent contest between the two.

Claudia finally gave in. "Fine. You are taking the SWAT team with you though." Cutter looked like he wanted to argue with her, but one stern glare from her had him clicking his jaw shut. "You _are_ taking that team with you." She turned to Ryan. "You _will_ bring him back."

Ryan nodded and set off, motioning to the other soldiers to follow him. Cutter reluctantly followed to get his own gear.

Hatter typed "Triassic" into his search engine that was linked to Connor's database. He wanted to see if there was any additional information he may need to give the team on the era they were heading into. That seems like the "Connor" thing to do.

He looked over the information: **It was a time period**, _duh!_ Hatter thought. He didn't need this to tell him that!

**It was named the Triassic period due to the bedrock**. _Really? This is what Connor spent so much time compiling?_ Hatter made a note to pick on Connor when this was all over.

**The climate was Hot and Dry**. Hatter snorted to himself as he thought, _Wow, such fascinating reading!_

**Cold winters, hot summers. **_I hope they will be lucky enough to be going in the fall or spring times, otherwise they might boil or freeze to death!_ Hatter shook his head. He missed Wonderlands temperate weather. To him, it meant no snow, and more rain. As his aunt on his Da's side had always said, "You don't have to shovel rain."

By the time he'd done his little research, the team had come back with their gear and Cutter was strapping his own gun to his hip. "Need a little help?"

Cutter scoffed. "Honestly, Connor… The last time you handled a gun, you ended up shooting Abby with a tranquilizer dart (1)."

Hatter didn't really have a response to that. His brother had always been as good—if not better—with a gun than Hatter. Connor gave a tiny minuscule shrug as if to say he a cover to maintain. He had to wonder though. Had Cutter recognized that they had switched places? He hoped not. He wanted to be far away when that happened.

What Hatter really wanted to do was roll his eyes and follow anyway, though he knew it would do no good. He had a bad feeling about this. Last time he had a feeling like this; Alice had been kidnapped while he was being tortured by Doctors Dee and Dum…

Cutter and the team disappeared through the anomaly.

After they watched them leave Alice asked, "So…we just sit and wait?"

Abby nodded, still cradling the Compy, which seemed to be quite content to sit in her arms letting her pet its scaly head. "Yeah. It's quite nerve-wracking at times."

Alice grinned. "Well, that means it's just time for a game!"

Abby raised an eyebrow. She was in on this, but Alice's enthusiasm was just a TAD bit creepy. "What game?"

The brunette smirked and the Temple twins exchanged nervous glances. Normal Alice was scary enough. When she chose to be…this version, it was weirder.

"A running game. We all gather in a circle and we can't really talk. Well, you can talk all you want, just not when you're switching spots." She turned to Stephen who was looking at her skeptically. "You played Chef Salad when you were in grade school, right?"

"Yeah," he said slowly, nodding.

Alice grinned. "It's just like that! Except, no one is calling out salad parts. The person in the circle has to watch for two others to start running and try and take the person's spot on the outside, so someone new is in the middle. My Sensei calls it Jedi Mind Trick (2)."

Hatter nodded. "Sorta like that one game we used to play with Aunt Mirana's twins, huh, Dave?"

Connor silently agreed, though he was watching Alice and Abby. This was obviously a diversion, but—Oh hell, if it kept Claudia's mind off Cutter right now, he'd be happy. All the nervous energy coming from the woman was starting to make him twitchy. "Let's play."

Alice's grin reminded Hatter of Chess's grin before he disappeared. Abby and Alice stripped off their heels and motioned for Claudia to do the same. "Since we have six people here, we'll only have five in the circle."

Abby glanced around. "Who wants to go first?"

No one said anything and Abby finally volunteered someone. "Stephen! You're up!"

Knowing better to argue with Abby, he did moved to the middle of the circle. Abby stood next to Alice, who was beside to "Hatter". Claudia was next to him followed by "Connor". "Connor" ended the circle as he stood by Abby.

Alice remembered one of the rules and quickly told them, "Oh! You can't change with the person next to you."

Everyone nodded. Alice started looking for someone to switch with. She caught Claudia's eyes and nodded. The confirmation nod from her friend was all she needed and she took off.

Stephen noted the movement and cut Claudia off, leaving the PR lady in the circle. Alice caught Abby's eyes just as Connor and Hatter caught each other's eyes. Abby was still holding the Compy. Everyone ran at the same time running into each other. Alice yelled out, "Traffic jam!" causing everyone to break out into giggles, or chuckles, depending on who you were.

"RUN!" they heard, but it was ignored with the fun they were having.

Then Ryan's voice joined Cutter's. "Run! Now!" The urgency in their voices was enough to cut through the fun they were having and everyone jumped.

Alice and Abby didn't even think, they just took off running in the same direction as each other. Hatter and Connor darted in the opposite direction. Stephen and Claudia went in the middle direction between the two away from whatever had frightened Cutter and Ryan so.

The roar that shattered the air behind them caused the hair on Alice's neck to stand on end. "Oh, shit." she whispered, picking up her speed. She was happy she had dumped the heels because running one more foot in heels and she'd have stabbed Cutter and Hatter with them.

Abby glanced over her shoulder and gasped, almost tumbling into Alice. "Alice, is that what I think it is?" she asked, running just that much faster.

"Spinosaurus?" Alice asked as they ran down deserted alleyways. "Yeah. Biggest freaking carnivore that is known to mankind!" She never thought all those years listening to her Mom in the lecture halls would help her now. Who would have thought it?

They didn't say anything hoping to find a spot to hide with the Compy before the Spinosaurus caught up with them.

—•—•—•—

Hatter and Connor slowed down to a jog. "Where's the girls?" Hatter asked, catching his breath.

The younger Temple twin spun around. "What do you mean, 'where's the girls'? Weren't they just right behind us?"

Hatter wanted to kick something. Alice had done this before with the stupid Jabberwock! "Oh, bloody hell, Alice!" he said, taking off the other way.

Connor followed his brother, mentally shaking his head at Abby and Alice. When they found them, it was going to involve lots of shouting, he knew. LOTS of shouting, from Cutter, Stephen, him and Hatter.

_Where could they possibly have run too?_ Hatter wondered. Alice didn't know her way around the city. But then, Abby did. It was possible that Abby knew of places his brother didn't.

They continued to wind their way through the city, hoping to catch at glimpse of whatever had spooked Cutter and Ryan so badly.

After an half an hour, Hatter and Connor managed to find the rest of the little team. "Does anyone know where Abby and Alice are?" Connor asked, as they rounded another corner, looking for their missing team mates.

Cutter shook his head. "No. I was hoping they were with you."

Hatter turned to Stephen. "You, mate?" he asked, looking down another alley way.

"No," the British man said, shaking his head. "We just took off, not really registering whether or not anyone was with us or not. Ryan, did you see which way they went?"

The soldier shook his head in denial. "No. We were too busy running from the bloody thing. Plus, the rest of the SWAT team got separated from us."

Stephen sighed. "Fine. Claudia, Ryan and I'll go that way," he said, pointing towards city centre. "Cutter take Hatter, and Connor, whichever one of you is which, go that way. Whoever finds them first, call the other group."

It was a silent agreement, the Temple twins and Cutter walked away from Ryan, Stephen, and Claudia. Connor finally spoke up. "What's chasing them?"

Cutter sighed. "Spinosaurus. Biggest carnivore known to mankind. It's three times the height of _Tyrannosaurus Rex_ which was only four meters tall. Spinosaurus was thought to be 12.5 meters tall. And it weighs much more than a human. Much, much more."

Hatter resisted the urge to slip into Outlandish and cuss Cutter out. It wasn't the man's fault that the prehistoric creature had followed them through the anomaly. And really, the Spinosaurus might be the biggest known to mankind on this side of the Rabbit Hole. They'd never met a Jabberwock.

Connor asked as Hatter, "Are you going to have Ryan kill it on sight?" They had parts to keep up after all. It was fun fooling everyone into thinking that he was Hatter.

Cutter glanced between the two, almost as if he was trying to figure out some puzzle and the boys were it. "Yes, I am. It's too dangerous to be left roaming the streets of London for any amount of time. Lester's going to kill us for letting it roam this long."

Hatter growled, "How long does it take to find a 12 meter tall beast?"

"How long have you two been switched and not told anyone?" Cutter asked, glancing between the two. He was desperate for a change of topic. He didn't want to think about what the giant of the dinosaurs could be doing to Alice and Abby.

Hatter and Connor were shocked. Apparently the shit wasn't going to hit the fan right now. "Since we got the call." Connor admitted. "We just sorta…switched clothes."

"Did it to Mum and Da all the time," Hatter clarified, as he shrugged, looking down another side street. "Used to tick them off so bad because they could never tell which twin was which and which one of us they wanted to yell at more. Normally Da took me to yell at and Mum took Connor."

The professor had to admit, he was glad he didn't have to raise these two. It would have been hell. Pure and utter bloody hell. He felt a new respect for their parents wash through him.

—•—•—•—

Abby led Alice into a dark passage way, where the Spinosaurus wouldn't fit. Hopefully. Though as wide as the thing was, she doubted it.

Alice maneuvered herself to be by her friend. "Let's stay here… Abbs, do you have your phone?" she asked. It was the first thing the rest of the team would try, she hoped.

The blonde shook her head. "No, it's on the charger in the car. I didn't think to grab it before we got out."

Alice ground out, "Crap. Well it does us a whole hell of a lot good there."

"It does, doesn't it?" Abby snipped.

The brunette sighed. "I'm sorry Abby. It's just that, well, you heard the story of what happened in Wonderland. This is just too much like it. I didn't want to be running for my life again."

It was Alice's luck that something tripped her as they were walking down the alley, looking for somewhere to get inside and away from the monster behind them.

She decided Murphy's Law must be taking effect today. Seriously. First her shopping trip with Abby was interrupted. Then, they get chased by the biggest freaking dinosaur known to man. Now this. She held back a scream as she fell, twisting her ankle so bad, she didn't think she would be able to walk. It almost felt broken. She hoped it wasn't.

Of course Murphy wasn't done with them. Abigail decided to take that moment to look over her shoulder for the Spinosaurus. It would have been comical the way Abby fell if they weren't in such a dangerous situation. Abby twisted to protect the Compy nestled safely in her arms. The loud crack from the general area of the herpetologist's arm and the scream that tore from Abby's throat was enough to catch the attention of the Spinosaurus still looking for them.

The big dinosaur stepped on a car on its way down the alley that _was_ big enough for the monster to fit down. "Abby…" Alice hissed. "Get up. We gotta go!"

One pained glance at the Spinosaurus later, and Abby was on her feet, her good arm dragging Alice to her feet. "We gotta get inside! Go! Can you walk?"

"If I need to," Alice hissed. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>(1) Even though this happened in season 2, I'm going to pretend it happened in season 1 because, dammit, it was just too funny to pass up Cutter slamming that in "Connor's" face.<p>

(2) I, like Alice, am a Martial Arts instructor, though hers in Japanese and my style is a relatively new form called Moo-Yea Do. I use this game at the end of my Saturday classes to teach my students a faster reacting time. I find it quite useful because you have to be able to avoid a "traffic jam" like what happened to the team there. But, yes, Jedi Mind Trick is a real game that any teacher reading this is welcome to use with their PE classes.


	3. It's Going To Be A Long Day

Of Dinosaurs and Tea—Chapter 3—It's Going To Be A Long Day

A/N: It's an AU… Remember that, folks. The song that I used is **Her Name is Alice by Shinedown**. This is SO much longer than I expected it to be. I honestly only expected about 7 pages. Pages: 10. 3.5 pages longer than I expected. Plus, you owe Echo Moon for this update. I really meant to do this on Friday, but this past week, I've had five tennis matches. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I blame my athletic director for his weird scheduling. But here it is. Sunday is my new update day. Promise.

DISCLAIMER: *looks down at body* I have boobs. I'm a girl. Hence I am NOT Nick Willing, Lewis Carroll, Adrian Hodges or Tim Haines.

The rest of the team, minus Alice and Abby, met up back at the anomaly site. "Any luck?" Hatter asked of Stephen.

The lab technician shook his head. His purple long sleeved button up shirt was open, revealing a white fitted t-shirt and the sleeves were rolled up. "No. And because you two aren't hanging all over them on the way to the hospital, we can assume you didn't find them either."

Hatter shook his head. "Seriously, how hard can it be to find a 12 and a half meter tall monster?" he wondered aloud.

Claudia's phone rang, startling everyone. She answered it, painted nails flipping it open, "Claudia Brown."

The pause that filled the air was full with tension. "Yes, I know. It's a Spinosaurus. It's—No, I understand. Ryan's under orders to shoot to kill on sight." Another pregnant pause. "If you want to, sir."

Hatter and Connor exchanged glances. Everyone knew who she was talking to. Those long pauses couldn't mean anything good.

Claudia flipped her phone closed. "Lester is coming to the site…" she said; worry only just touching her voice.

Cutter moved to stand in front of her. "Is he already on his way?" he asked.

"Yes."

Everyone sighed, except Hatter, who was still dressed as Connor. Stephen glanced at the man. Something was off between the two of them… He just couldn't figure out what it was…

If Hatter and Connor felt his glare, they ignored it. They were hunched over Connor's equipment, as if trying to figure something out.

Hatter moved closer. "Dammit, Conn," the twin dressed as Connor bit out. "We should be able to track these monsters."

"I haven't come up with a way for that yet, David!" the one dressed as Hatter snapped at his brother. "As far as I know, a tracking device is the only way of tracking the stupid things!"

The real Hatter's jaw jutted forward. The conman stated, "I want to find Alice."

Connor laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know… I want to find Abby."

Stephen nodded. It was as he thought. The twins had switched places. And now their plan backfired on them. Of course, neither of them knew that a Spinosaurus was going to come through an anomaly. He walked closer to the brothers. "Connor."

Hatter turned to him. "Yes?"

The lab technician resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "The real Connor. I get you guys wanted to play a prank on us, and it sorta flopped on you."

The older twin shrugged. "I guess we can always screw with your boss. Lester, right?"

"That's an idea," Connor said, the smirk on his face a little more evil than Stephen would have liked to see. "I've always wanted to pull one over on the smug bastard."

It was a little stronger language than what Stephen normally heard from the grad student, but with Abby and Alice missing, and running from the biggest carnivore known to man…anyone would be stressed. Hell, Stephen himself was stressed and he saw Abby as the little sister he never wanted.

Stephen decided it was time to change the subject. "Connor, do you have an idea on how to track the creatures that come through?"

Connor shook his head. "The only way I could think of would be the same way I was thinking we could track anomalies. They're based on radio waves, as far as I can tell. If there was some residue on the creature…" He snatched the laptop that was sitting on Hatter's lap and started typing furiously.

"Well," Hatter said, looking slightly affronted. "That's very polite of you, Conn. I can only imagine what Mum would do to you for that."

Connor briefly glanced up and flipped his brother the bird.

"Oh yeah. Da would be on you like ugly on a Ja—ape." Hatter taunted his brother, only remembered at the last second where he was. _Where the bloody hell is Alice?_

Stephen raised an eyebrow. "Jape?" he asked.

Hatter waved of the inquiry. "Nothing."

The lab tech nodded, unconvinced. "Okay… Connor, what are you thinking."

"Well, if there's a radio wave residue on the creature, I can track it. But, there really isn't a residue that I can trace," the grad student said, his fingers flying over the keyboard. His brown eyes traced the words that were appearing on the screen. "As far as I can tell, at least."

The conman thought, _This is most definitely over my head._ He knew how his brother got when he was working, so he left the two lab rats working on a possible solution.

He moved his way over to Claudia and Cutter who were arguing quietly. "How are we going to explain to Lester that there are two Connors?" she hissed. Lester was thorough, but even he couldn't find out about someone who had only been in his world for a week. Plus, Claudia had only taken Alice with her when getting her boss to set everything up.

Cutter raised an eyebrow at her, placing his hands on his jean-clad hips. "Tell him that Connor's twin brother and his girlfriend are visiting him."

Claudia's toe started tapping her black pump covered foot, indicating very clearly to Hatter that she was annoyed with the paleontologist. "But how to explain why Hatter's girlfriend is running from a Spinosaurus! She's only here for teaching the team Martial Arts!"

The paleontologist shrugged. "She and Abby were doing something, and met up with Alice's boyfriend by chance. Dragged him along. I don't know. Make something up."

The PR woman's jaw jutted forward, revealing her exasperation to a new degree. "Cutter," she growled, "that has to be the worst cover story I have _ever_ heard!"

"Well, do you have something better?" Cutter retorted, fixing Claudia with a stare that could freeze water.

"Possibly!"

Hatter snorted quietly. Seriously, the two of them were worse than him and Alice when they first met.

"And it wouldn't have to do with anyone dragging anyone anywhere!" Claudia finished, looking like she was about to stamp her foot in anger.

_Yeah_, Hatter thought, _because that makes SO much sense._

Cutter crossed his arms. "Well, what's your idea?"

The PR woman crossed her own arms over her grey fitted pant suit. "I was thinking that Connor invited his brother for a visit after he learned that Hatter was looking for his girlfriend."

Hatter turned away from the conversation. He didn't care about the cover story; he just wanted to find Alice.

He turned to watch Ryan. The man was hardly moving, almost as if he was expecting the Spinosaurus to come rounding the corner at any minute. Or maybe he was waiting for Lester. The man was an asshole from what Hatter had heard.

Hatter needed to get away from this. He wanted to go find Alice. He _needed_ to find Alice. In the time that they had known each other, he had come to care for the crazy little Oyster girl.

But, before he could run off with another half-assed plan like the one that Hatter had when he was trying to rescue Alice from the suits and Mad March, a sleek black town-car pulled up. A man Hatter didn't know, stepped out of the back of his car. The man's dark grey suit jacket was left open, revealing a crisp white button down dress shirt. The matching grey pants were creased just so, leaving no doubt in the conman's mind that this man was rich. Not as rich as the royalty Hatter had grown up with, but rich just the same. _This must be the prick that Connor and Stephen were talking about,_ Hatter decided, assessing the man. _Rich, snobbish, and a total arsehole._

He slipped into the shadows as Lester walked past him, approaching Cutter and Claudia. "Do we know where this thing is?" he asked—no, he demanded of Claudia.

"No."

_Ooh,_ Hatter thought as he heard more whispers from behind him coming from his brother and Stephen, _one word answers. Not good, Lester ol' buddy, ol' pal. And is that what I think it is?_ he wondered, as he thought he saw a fin from something from in between the buildings that were blocks away.

Cutter glared at his boss. Hatter stepped forward. "Cutter," he said, slipping back into what he had dubbed Connor-Mode.

The paleontologist turned, seeming to get that Hatter was playing Connor again. "What do you want?" he barked.

"I think I found it," Hatter said, pointing.

"Hatter! Stephen! We found it!" Cutter called to the two working on whatever design they had come up with. "Let's go!" he called out to Ryan.

Lester did a double take. There were two of them? Two Connors? He had enough trouble with one of them!

_Well, _Hatter thought, _that's how hard it is to find a 12 meter tall monster._ He watched as the lab tech picked up a big rifle that Stephen was loading with big ammunition. The guns that the Home Office team used were a whole lot more advanced than the ones they had dealt with in Wonderland. Well, they sure as hell weren't the sawed-offs that the Suits used.

Connor picked up a hand gun and stuffed it in the back of belt that he was using. Stephen raised an eyebrow. "Don't let Cutter see that. He'll go ballistic with you having a gun," he said, putting his own hand gun into the holster.

"I'll tell Cutter where he can stick it when we burn that ramp," Connor snapped, picking up a bigger shot-gun to carry with him.

Hatter picked up a gun of his own, along with a 30.06 that Stephen was offering him. "Oh, Connor, I would love to see what Mum would do to you for that comment."

—•—•—•—

Alice and Abby stumbled into an office building. It was rundown like most of the buildings in this section of town, Abby knew. The economy had been hit hard in this part of town. She let Alice lean on the wall and walked into the building with the and up to the receptionist. "Do your phones work?" she asked, letting her broken arm dangle uselessly.

The woman at the front desk looked at her in shock. "Ma'am do I need to call the police?"

Abby shook her head. "No, my friend and I were out on a run," she started, adrenaline starting to fade from her body, leaving her in pain and shaking. "And we tripped over each other." She didn't add that they were running for their lives. The tripping part was true too, three blocks over.

The economy had hit this part of London hard. Abby didn't venture down here often, but she knew that everything had gone to hell in a hand basket. The boarded up offices outside were proof of that. This was the first open office building in the three blocks they had hobbled.

Abby could tell Alice was in pain. The little lines between her eyes were enough, even though Alice refused to show it any other way. She was certain the Martial Artist was in pain. Her own arm was sending signals of pain to her brain.

The receptionist handed Abby the phone. "Here ya go. Just dial the number."

Abby dialed Cutter's number. She would have gone for Connor's but Hatter was dressed as Connor and, while he might have the telephone in the flat down, he hadn't quite mastered the cell phone.

It rang once. It rang twice. On the third ring, Stephen picked up. _"This had better not be a telemarketer. Otherwise, we're tracking you down and shooting you."_

"I'm sure as hell not a telemarketer!" Abby snapped. "And why are you picking up Cutter's phone?"

"_Because we're running at the Spinosaurus."_

"And unless you're running towards 65th and Andresan, we're screwed. Alice—I broke my arm. Alice sprained her ankle."

"_We're on our way. And watch out, Connor has a gun."_

Abby snorted. "I don't want to get shot again. Is that a wise idea?" In the back ground, she swore she heard Connor say, _**"I heard that!"**_

Stephen snorted. _"Is Alice outside? With the compy?" _he asked, slightly out of breath._ "Because we're about 8 blocks away."_

"Yeah, she is. I'm inside the only open office building on 65th."

The receptionist was surprisingly quiet. Thankfully. Abby handed back the phone back with the thanks, and went to the door. Alice was still leaned against the building, deathly pale, the compy in her arms. She was not putting any weight on her right ankle. Alice's baby blue tank top that was actually Abby's was smudged from the grime on the wall behind her. Her jeans were ripped in the knees from where they had tripped over each other. The little black cami that she was wearing was torn at the shoulder. "Y'know," Alice said, "I can still see the Spinosaurus."

Sure enough, Abby looked down the road at the Spinosaurus rushing towards them. "Dammit, get into the building."

Alice glanced at her friend in shock. "What?"

"Get. Inside. The building!" Abby snapped.

The brunette did as ordered, hobbling into the office. "Fine, bossy," Alice muttered.

—•—•—•—

The six members of the Home Office team barreled down Andersan towards 65th. Hatter had gone on jogs with Connor in the morning before the girls got up, and eight blocks had never seemed so long before. He glared at the pavement in front of him, wishing for it to suddenly become shorter.

He watched as the two small dots that he assumed were Alice and Abby disappeared into a building. The Madness in him was slowly making itself known. His Alice was injured, according to Stephen. It didn't sound as bad as some of her injuries in Wonderland, but it had the potential to be bad news.

Hatter thought that Connor must be feeling some of the same thing. The Madness wasn't as prevalent in Connor, but it was there. Connor took after their mum in that aspect. Hatter took after their father.

He sped up, leaving the team behind. Connor easily kept pace.

Hatter had to admit, racing against the March Hare when he was a kid was a good idea. It had build up speed and stamina.

Running all over Wonderland after Alice had helped too.

"D'you think they're okay?" Connor panted as they sped along, neither noticing that the rest of the team was struggling to keep pace with them.

Hatter glanced over at his brother. "They have to be."

Another roar from the Spinosaurus that was about two blocks away from the doorway Abby and Alice had gone into slit the air. Connor bit back a curse. They were in danger. For some odd reason, a song the citizens of Underland had sung about their mother popped into Connor's head. Something about inviting her to a world where Time didn't exist, if he remembered correctly. He'd always found it a strange song. But right now, and not for the first time, he wished that Time was in a good mood with his family.

The six blocks between Connor and Abby and Alice seemed to stretch on forever. The younger Temple pulled easily ahead of his twin at the thought of Abby being torn apart by the biggest carnivore known to man.

He knew that the hand gun he was carrying wasn't going to be strong enough to penetrate anything. Hopefully the shotgun was.

Connor was two blocks away, Hatter hot on his tail. He heard a human scream as Alice and Abby were pushed outside. This time Connor didn't hesitate in cursing. "Shit!" He stopped, settling into the stance that Dodo had taught him and Hatter, when teaching them how to shoot.

"_No! Your foot needs to be over there! Not here!" Dodo snapped at Connor._

"_What does it matter?" Connor bit back. Dav—Hatter as he was now requesting to be called had already perfected this stance. Why was it so hard for Connor?_

_Dodo growled deep in his throat. "It matters because of this!" He shoved Connor on the shoulder as hard as he could._

_The 19-year-old stumbled sideways into the wall of the Great Library. "What the fuck, man?" he gasped, rubbing his ribs. Luckily they were practicing without guns, or Connor knew he'd lose his temper with the man named after a semi-extinct bird._

_The Head of Knowledge smirked at him. "That's why it matters! Now, you're going to stay here until you get it right. I don't care if we're here all night!"_

Until now, Connor had never been really appreciative of what Dodo was teaching him. Sure he was a good shot in the range, once he'd been allowed a gun by Dodo, but under pressure? With Abby's life on the line? Who knew how that would go.

The stance now seemed like second nature as he settled into it easily. Connor had never liked the man, but right now, he sent Dodo a silent thank you.

He aimed very carefully at what science was now saying was the weakest part of Spinosaurus' anatomy. It was just above what would be the collar bone on a human.

Connor very faintly heard a "Connor, no!" from someone that sounded like Cutter.

He remembered the technique that Griffin had taught him before letting him cross over. The man had been in the United States Marine Corp as a sniper in the first Iraqi War. He believed very firmly in a head-slap. He heard the man's voice in his head. _"Shoot between your heartbeats. Don't care how long it takes, just do it."_

Another piece of advice he'd have to thank them for later.

He took a deep breath, searching for his pulse.

Connor's right forefinger rested on the trigger.

—•—•—•—

Alice and Abby shuffled away from the big monster as they heard a _BOOM!_ split the air.

Connor had shot the beast.

Not Stephen, not Ryan, not Cutter.

Connor.

Alice's mind was a mess as Hatter swam in front of her view. "Alice!" The conman yelped as she wobbled on her already unsteady legs.

Strong arms caught her, murmuring soothing words. She hadn't felt this safe since she had left Hatter's embrace that morning. Was this Hatter? She certainly hoped so.

Something was forced against her lips. "Here, drink." That was Hatter's voice. She did as she was ordered. Hatter always took care of her. Immediately, her head began to clear. Everything came into focus, including Hatter's face. Abby was getting the same treatment from Connor, which made Alice feel a tiny bit better.

Hatter hugged her close. And was it just her, or was that a Scottish brogue she was hearing? "God, lass. Don't ya scare me like tha'."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Hatter. I thought you were following me."

"Ya realize, lass, that ya wen' in th' opposite direction tha' Connor and Ah did?"

Alice nodded, looking into Hatter's eyes. "Yeah, we sorta realized that after we were far away from anyone. And the Spinosaurus followed Abby and me. Just like the freaking Jabberwock." Did his eyes have a yellow tint?

No… His eyes were back to their chocolate brown. "You don't want to know how scary that was, Alice. You weren't behind us." And his voice was back to normal.

"I know. Hey, at least Abby and I didn't fall into a trap that a nutso crazy lovable old knight set up trying to trap a Jabberwock," Alice quipped, smirking up at her boyfriend.

The two of them were distracted by Connor and Abby standing on opposite sides of the sidewalk, glaring at each other. Hatter moved her to where he supported her better as he whispered, "Oh, yeah. Tonight's gonna be fun."

Alice snorted as Abby shouted, "How were we supposed to know to run right! I _always_ run left and you know it!"

"What part of _biggest carnivore known to mankind_ didn't you get?" Connor snapped, leveling Abby with his glare.

Abby snipped, "It wasn't mentioned to me until Alice brought it up!"

"Ah don' _care_ wha' Alice men'ioned!" the grad student bit out, his eyes seeming to change from chocolate to chocolate with a yellow ring around them. "Ah jus' care tha' ya aren't smashed like a li'le bug!"

The blonde stamped her foot. "I was _not_ going to be smashed like a little bug, Connor!" she bellowed. "Alice and I just happened to run away from you and Hatter!"

Lester stood with Claudia, Cutter and Stephen, watching the scene unfold. And he thought one Connor was bad enough. Now there were two, and the one he didn't know had his arm around the woman he had gotten a temporary visa for.

Connor's face was turning as red as Iracebeth's hair, Hatter noted. He untangled his arms from around his Alice, making sure she was okay first, and placed his left hand on his brother's shoulder, ready to use his right fist to knock Connor out if need be. "Connor!"

"…fez!" the younger of the two squeaked, reminding Hatter of their Da. "I'm fine. Thanks, Dave."

"Not a problem, Con."

Lester rolled his eyes. "What an extremely awkward moment," he drawled. "And now that it's over, we need to get rid of the body."

Cutter spoke up. "Send it back. No necropsies on something this big."

Stephen nodded his agreement. "It wouldn't do us any good, really. I just hope we don't come across one of these guys again. Sending it back is about the best we can do."

"We'll need a crane to get this thing back to the anomaly," Ryan said, reminding everyone that the SWAT team was there too.

Hatter agreed silently, as he made his way back over to Alice. "Connor and I will get the girls to a hospital. Alice needs her ankle looked at and Abby needs her arm reset."

Claudia was already making the necessary arrangements to have a crane come to take the "thirteen ton automaton that got loose from a theme park" back to the anomaly.

Hatter sighed. It was going to be a long day.


	4. Wonderland Vs Home Office

Chapter 4—Of Dinosaurs and Tea— Wonderland Vs. Home Office

A/N: Mouse is mine. I wasn't happy with Mally's counterpart in Wonderland, so Mallerie Mouse (named after a friend of mine) was born. As was the gold dress she is wearing. Actually, I own Evan Zavala, who is one of my roleplay characters on LackLustre's and my website Superville. Check it out folks. And Alice will be teaching karate and Ju Jitsu to the Home Office team. This is a monster of a chapter. Most of my chapters are 10 pages long, if not a tiny bit longer. This is the last chapter and then the epilogue. Thank you for your support.

The song I am using for this chapter is **Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield**.

DISCLAIMER: If I did own Alice and Primeval, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction would I? No. I'd be swooning over my good luck at getting Andrew-Lee Potts in two things I owned.

**In Wonderland, One Week after The New Alice of Legend Left/Same Time as Spinosaurus**

"Your Majesty," The Ten of Clubs, Evan Zavala said, as he bowed to his monarch. He was no longer required to wear that stupid head gear.

"Zavala, how are you?" Jack asked, still pouring over his papers on his desk. His fiancée, Duchess Ilane of Diamonds, was grabbing some tea—the real tea, not the fake Tea his Mother had pushed throughout Wonderland.

Evan relaxed a little bit. No matter what happened, King Jack would not take off his head. The King was not prone to bits of Madness like his mother was. He kept repeating that mantra in his head, hoping the King would not notice that Evan was not talking.

Jack looked up. "Evan," he said, using his friend's first name, "what's wrong?"

The Ten of Clubs fidgeted nervously with his necklace, the one that his father had given him signifying his rank within the Clubs family. Ten was the Duke of Clubs, just like his father before he had been beheaded by the Queen of Hearts.

"We seem to have lost track of Alice Hamilton and Hatter," Evan said, almost slurred his words beyond recognition.

Jack looked up as Ilane entered the room. "What do you mean, we've lost track of Alice and Hatter?" Jack asked, a slightly puzzled look on his face. It was as if he couldn't believe it.

Ilane sat elegantly on the edge of Jack's desk. "That Hamilton girl and Hatter never made it to New York, did they?"

Zavala shook his head. "No, they didn't, Duchess. Not as far as my Suits can tell. Those who have travelled to New York to get those in that general vicinity situated have heard rumors." He took a deep breath. "Number Eight first heard the rumors and reported them to me. He had heard rumors about a missing karate instructor who went missing with her boyfriend. Most thought she eloped, apparently. Her closest friend—"

"Jenny," Jack said. "Jenny would never believe that. She didn't like me from the beginning. I remember overhearing her tell Alice she thought I was a complete and total prick, and that she'd better dump me before she got in a world of hurt over me." The King paused, as he thought over everything that had happened, "I can't help but wonder if that girl had some sort of Sight."

Evan paled. Sight in an Oyster was always a complicated thing. "Well-l-l-l, this Jenny filed a police report with the NYPD saying that one Jack Chase had kidnapped her."

Jack groaned. "I'll never be able to pick up my things from the locker now. Sensei will kill me on that alone."

Ilane turned to Jack. "We'll get them, love," she said, stroking his platinum blonde hair.

Zavala continued, "And suddenly, a Carol Hamilton showed up, within Number Eight's presence and told Jenny that Alice was fine and you had not kidnapped her."

"You know," Jack said, unknowingly leaning into Duchess' hand, "that's not a very Carol-ish thing to do. Find out what happened to Alice and Hatter."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I will get Agent Mouse on it right away."

Evan headed for the door when Jack called out, "Evan."

Zavala turned. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Call me Jack in private."

"Yes, You—Jack."

Evan walked out of the room, knowing that he would live to see another day. It didn't matter if Jack and Evan had been childhood friends after Evan's family had followed the Hearts out of Underland and into Wonderland, Evan still worried for the safety of his neck. The Queen of Hearts was as Mad as the infamous Red Queen Iracebeth.

Number 8, Alexander Jamison joined Evan as the man traversed the Diamond Manor that was being used as the temporary Royal Palace. Zavala knew that the Ki—Jack had begun making plans for a Heart Palace.

Alex asked, "What did the King say?"

Evan shrugged before saying, "He said to have either us or the White Rabbit organization find them as soon as possible."

Alex relaxed slightly. "Oh good. He's not going to kill us."

Ten turned to Eight. "Number Eight, he's not going to behead us. He promised us that when he took the thrown."

"Yeah, well, so did the Queen of Hearts when she took over 150 years ago, and look how that turned out."

Zavala stopped and turned to his worker. "Jamison, the White Queen is offering sanctuary if you want it. You can leave if you're so scared."

Alex scoffed. "The White Queen is a myth. It's said she hated to see any living thing harmed. If she were real, she would have saved everyone, including the Oysters. She has to be fake."

Evan didn't have a good come back to that, honestly. "Only if you believe she is."

The rest of the trip through Diamond Manor was silent and awkward. Never before had Alex and Evan snipped at each other like that.

The White Rabbit was using temporary offices because their own offices had been ransacked by Tea-Heads who wanted to find any Oyster who had not been sent home.

All had been sent home, so the Tea-Heads had searched in vain.

But the damage had been done. The White Rabbit was forced out of their offices to do extensive repairs and renovations. Duchess Ilane graciously offered the White Rabbit temporary offices in her home. She had said something along the lines of she was never going to use half the rooms anyway.

Eventually Number Eight left to do his own task.

Evan stepped into the front room for the White Rabbit. Number Three of Diamond's looked up. "Who would you like to see?" she asked, popping her gum.

Zavala said, "I want to see Agent Mouse."

The girl at the front desk's eyes widened a tiny bit. "A-agent Mouse?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the girl. Really, why were most people scared of Mouse? It was nonsensical.

She picked up the phone and dialed Mouse's extension. "A-agent M-mouse, Number Ten of Clubs is here to see you."

A moment of silence.

Number Three dropped the receiver back in its cradle.

"Agent Mouse will see you now." The young woman's voice was small and scared.

This time Zavala rolled his eyes as he passed the desk. He walked the short distance to Agent Mallerie Mouse's office. He knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Evan entered the office of his friend. "Hello, Mallerie."

The person who was in a black office chair swiveled around to face him. It reminded Evan of the chair that they had found in the Tea Shoppe office. "Hello, Evan." Mallerie Mouse had dark chocolate brown eyes, and the same color hair that was pulled back into an elegant work style pony tail. Mouse's skin was a few shades darker than Evan himself. She tapped her painted nails on the desk in front of her. "Well? What do you want?"

When Mouse was angry, it was very easy to see why Number Three was scared of her.

Ten of Clubs had to clear his throat first. "The King wants you to look for someone," Evan said, hoping Mouse wasn't going to blow up on him.

"Lost someone, has he? Who has he lost this time?" she asked, as she stood up. It was obvious to Evan that Mouse was getting ready for the Knighting Ceremony that Jack had prepared for Charlie. The gold, sparkly dress almost blinded Zavala as the warm lighting in the room bounced off it.

Evan nodded. "Yes, he has. Actually, the Spades lost them and reported it to me, and I had to report it to King Jack."

Mouse raised an eyebrow as she crossed in front of the oak desk that was her main work station when she was not in Aboveground. "Who did the Spades loose?" she asked, moving to a cabinet that was mounted on the green wall. She retrieved her favorite gun from it.

"Alice Hamilton and Hatter."

Mallerie spun around. "They lost who?"

"Ali—"

Mouse cut him off. "I heard what you said, Evan! How the bloody hell did the stupid Spades lose the New Alice of Legend and her Hatter?"

Evan shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. According to the rumors circulat—"

"Scuttlebutt cannot be relied upon, Evan! How many times do I have to repeat that?" Mouse snapped.

"Well, Mallerie," Evan snipped, "that's all I have for you! All I know is that Hatter and Alice Hamilton did not appear in New York. They could be anywhere. Japan, Berlin, Rome, Dublin. Anywhere."

Mouse frowned, jutting her chin out. "Fat lotta good that'll do me. They haven't been seen in New York in one week?" she asked, a touch of anger in her voice.

Evan knew his friend well enough to know she wasn't angry at him, but at the fact she didn't have much more to work with. "Yes."

Mouse tapped the .9 millimeter semiautomatic handgun against her palm, after making sure the safety was on and there were no bullets in it. "Hmm…" she crossed back to her desk, saying, "You should be glad, Evan, I've always loved a challenge." Mallerie Mouse picked up her phone and barked into it, "Three, get me a list of Looking Glass portals in Aboveground!"

Evan snorted. "Jeez, Mal-Mal, bite the poor Diamond's head off."

"She deserves it. She hardly does any work around here. And don't call me Mal-Mal!"

The terrified Number Three hurried in, dropped the list off on Mallerie's desk, and scurried out, acting more like a mouse than Mouse did.

Mouse picked up the papers that Number Three had left. "Hm… New York. Well, we can cross that one off the list." She used a pen to scratch out New York. "Dublin, Moscow, Rome, Washington DC near the Lincoln Memorial, Portland Oregon in an alley near Pioneer Square, Seattle Washington near 909 4th Avenue… This'll take me a while. I'm going to start with Europe," she said. Mouse looked up. "Well? What are you still doing here, Zavala? Go shoo!"

—•—•—•—

**A Week After The Spinosaurus Incident**

Hatter and Connor were sitting on the floor of the flat, playing on Connor's Xbox 360. Alice and Abby were upstairs, getting Abby dressed. With only one arm, Abby was having difficulty with getting shirts on and off, so Alice had taken over helping the young woman get dressed.

"You aren't going to win, Conn," Hatter said, pressing random buttons in quick succession on his controller.

"Yes, I am," Connor retorted, turning his controller, as if wishing he could get his character to move that way by moving the controller.

Alice appeared in the loft. "Guys, you ready to go? Because Cutter's joining us for this first time today, and I really don't want to be late for that."

Both boys were in sweats and old t-shirts. Connor looked up. "Yeah, we're ready."

The four of them piled into the car, with Connor driving. Abby couldn't drive with a broken arm, and that in and of itself pissed her off.

No one, not even the conman who had trained himself to notice when he was being followed, noticed the brunette that was watching them. Her white jacket was buttoned and tied at the waist. Black leather boots came up part way up her calf. She was wearing stylish jeans.

Agent Mallerie Mouse had found the New Alice of Legend and her Hatter.

And she had found another Hatter. Mouse smirked. She'd keep that bit of info to herself for a bit. She wanted to see how Evan and King Jack reacted to that little tidbit.

She climbed into her own car and made sure to stay a few cars back from the car Alice Hamilton was in.

—•—•—•—

Alice lined her class up. She loved working with a tiny class of this size. Stephen stood at the front of the line because he had had Martial Arts experience before. Hatter and Connor were next. Abby normally stood next to Connor, but Alice refused to let her join today because they would be practicing throwing and remembering how to fall. Cutter joined at the end of the line. His teaching duties had been in the way before. He'd always been working with a grad student when they were supposed to be meeting.

After leading the class through a series of work outs and stretches she paired the four in her class together. Hatter and Connor, and Cutter and Stephen.

"Now," Alice said, slipping into teacher mode, "do you remember how to fall?"

Connor, Hatter and Stephen nodded. Cutter shook his head.

Alice motioned for Hatter to approach her. "Grab my gi," she ordered. She saw Hatter hesitate just a tiny bit before doing as she ordered.

She smirked at her boyfriend. It had a little bit of a sense of déjà vu. Alice jerked him to the right. He followed, adjusting his stance. She pulled on his right sleeve again, moving him to the right.

In a less complicated move that the one she had used on Jack two weeks previously, she swiftly moved her left leg to the right of Hatter's left leg, hooked his leg with her right. Using the leverage she had, she popped her knee back into Hatter's. Alice glanced around the room. "See how Hatter's off balance here? Here, I can do one of two things. Feint, which means I can move back, or throw him. I'm going to go with the throwing him option."

She pulled with her left hand, pushed with her right, and popped her knee into the back of Hatter's again. He twisted over her hip, falling to the ground. Hatter slapped it before hitting. Alice helped him back up. "That's how you fall. Soon, you should be able to do this."

The black belt threw herself back, letting her hands hit the ground before her body did.

Picking herself up, Alice glanced at the clock. Only ten minutes had passed. She said, "Get into the pairs, and get into position."

Alice corrected Hatter's stance and Connor's hands. "No, I want your left hand a little high on his gi," Alice murmured. "It makes it easier to push him over when you have him off balance."

Connor's eyes met hers. It still shocked her after two weeks how much Connor and Hatter looked alike. It didn't matter to her that they were identical twins, right down to the last dimple. The one difference was Connor had a little bit of a sadder look in his eyes. Abby had explained to her about Tom dying at the hands of a dodo bird.

She found that it hurt her too, to know that Connor had lost someone so close to him. Alice saw him as the brother she never had.

She smiled at him, and moved onto Cutter and Stephen.

Alice heard, "No, your hands need to be here," from the lab tech.

Cutter raised an eyebrow at his co-worker. "Really?" he asked, skeptical.

The brunette stepped forward. "Stephen's right. C'mere Cutter, grab my gi."

The paleontologist did as he was ordered. "So, where do my hands go?"

"Grab where my elbow is, not my forearm. And grab a little higher on the lapel with your left hand," Alice said. Cutter was the uncle figure to Connor, Alice knew. He had offered the support that Connor's own father could not do because he was in a different dimension, and Cutter knew that. She supposed he was taking on the job of 'uncle' unconsciously.

On instinct, Alice said, "Try and take me down."

As soon as Cutter moved, Alice had flipped him over onto his back, much like she had the Suit in Wonderland when Hatter was being choked and almost tossed over the side of the building.

"Well," Stephen said, sounding as if he was trying not to laugh his friend on the ground, "you now know for sure Alice has her black belt."

That was enough to set Abby off laughing, which caught Connor's and Hatter's attention to their boss on the floor.

—•—•—•—

Mallerie smirked as she fell through the looking glass. Oh, she could not _wait_ to see Evan's and His Majesty's face when they realized that Hatter had a twin brother.

She landed on her feet, reminding Evan of a cat. "Well?" he asked. "Did you find them?"

Mouse gave him a grin that reminded him of the fabled Chessur. "Oh, yes, I found them. Only took me a week. Which really isn't bad, considering I had to travel all over Europe and North America!" she snapped playfully.

Evan sighed. "Good. Where are they?"

"London," was her only response before walking over to the Scarab and boarded. "Well, are you coming?"

The ride to Diamond Manor was silent, that was only broken by chuckles from Mallerie. "What's so funny?" Evan finally asked as they were about five minutes from the temporary royal palace.

Mallerie turned to look at her friend, white jacket open at the top revealing a black shirt. "Oh, you'll find out," she said, a secretive little smile playing her face.

The Eight of Spades informed Jack that Evan and Mallerie were back. The two of them entered and bowed and curtsied respectively.

"So," Jack started, "have you found them?"

Mallerie nodded. No one but Evan noticed the twinkle in the young woman's eye, and, truth be told, it scared him a bit. "Yes, Your Majesty. They are in London."

Jack frowned. "And Alice stayed there? That really doesn't sound like her. She hates the winters in New York. London, from what I heard, is worse."

"Well, I saw her teaching a group of people her…" Mallerie turned to Evan. "You called it Martial Arts, right?"

The Ten of Clubs nodded. "Yes."

Jack shook his head. "Was Hatter among them?"

The twinkle in Mouse's eye grew just that much brighter. "Yes, Your Majesty, he was."

Ilane looked hard at Agent Mouse. The Duchess didn't say anything though as Jack was talking again. "Evan, get us set up in a hotel in London. We need to talk to Alice, get her back to New York. Even if Carol knows where she is, I'm sure she wants her daughter back. And Hatter's paperwork is only good for America, not England."

The King and Evan left, leaving Mallerie to giggle and shake with laughter. Ilane turned to her. "Mallerie Mouse, you are awful. You were hiding something in there, weren't you?"

Mouse giggled again. "Oh, Ilane, it's just kinda funny."

Duchess raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny you can't keep your composure? I know that our parents didn't send us to that stupid finishing school to make us lose control like that. You were practically shaking."

"There's more than one Hatter."

Ilane of Diamonds stared at her. "Ah whabawhatawha?"

Mallerie giggled again, sounding surprisingly girly. "Yeah, our dear Hatter who freed us from that bitch has a twin brother. Lanie, you can't tell anyone."

Ilane's eyes sparkled. "Oh, I won't."

The two women followed before the King and Evan noticed they were missing. As it turned out, they hadn't even noticed they were gone. Mallerie's only thought was _Men…_

The Suits who were piloting the Scarab shrunk back slightly at the sight of Mallerie. She mentally rolled her eyes. She was a bitch, but really. She wasn't _that_ intimidating. The trip back to the Looking Glass was filled with chatter this time. Mallerie and Ilane were catching up, while Evan and the King talked about ways to stimulate the new economy.

The technician frowned at the sight of Mallerie. It was obvious to the agent that he STILL wasn't comfortable in the presence of her yet. It really bugged her.

Being in the presence of the king didn't help. This was a new tech obviously.

King Jack moved to the lead technician. "Samuel, how long will it take to set the Looking Glass on London?"

Samuel, who was obviously more comfortable with the King than the new one, contemplated his answer. "Five minutes, Your Majesty."

"Good. Get it set for London." Jack thought of something. "Have we had any reports of people getting pulled off destination?"

Samuel shook his head. "No. Only one we have heard of is Alice Hamilton and Hatter not appearing in New York like we thought they would. Have you found her?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, we have. She's just outside of Devonshire." Actually, she was in London, but he wasn't going to say that to someone of whose loyalties he wasn't quite sure of yet. "London's the closest portal."

As the two talked, Mallerie narrowed her eyes at Samuel. Something was off about the man… She didn't like him at all.

The new tech, who Jack didn't know, finished imputing the coordinates into the Looking Glass. "Y-your M-majesty, the Looking Glass is ready."

Jack looked at the young man. "Thank you. What's your name?"

"Roy," he said, looking up at his king.

"Thank you, Roy."

Samuel stood at the King and the Duchess' backs and said, "Just don't forget to breathe, Your Majesties," and shoved.

Mallerie and Evan followed close behind.

The trip through the Glass was uneventful. Jack landed, cushioning Duchess from the hard concrete. "So this is where Alice and Hatter ended up," he mused.

Ilane looked around, brushing off the dirt. "Dull place," she observed. "No Scarabs, no flying things."

"Well, my dear," Jack started in, "there are airplanes. But those are expensive and controlled by separate corporations than the government here."

"Are they used for short distances?"

Mallerie said, "I don't think so, Duchess. From what I gathered while I was in America, they were used for long distances. The distances that people didn't want to take in their cars while travelling."

Ilane nodded, understanding. If they opened the Scarabs to everybody, it'd be for long distances and it'd probably cost a lot of money to the average citizen. Then, again, if they could go without the cost…

Evan looked around and said, "M—Agent Mouse, where do we go from here?"

Mallerie grinned at him. "C'mon. If they aren't in the field, they're at Home Office."

Jack thought he knew a city layout from living in New York for twelve weeks. Obviously, London was much different. The way Agent Mouse was taking them was complicated and complex. Then again, they were on foot. He was happy he had convinced Ilane to change her signature heels for more comfortable walking shoes.

Evan didn't say much, he just watched Mallerie lead them through the city. This was an interesting trip to say the least. He knew Mallerie was hiding something from them, but he didn't dare guess what it was at this time.

Ilane was hoping they'd get some shopping in. She loved Oyster fashion, and even created some of her own in Wonderland, selling her designs anonymously to the people who made the clothes. Little did the fashionistas of Wonderland know, the Maria de la Santos collection they wore was actually designed by Ilane of Diamonds. Well, even though they might not be able to this time, she'd drag Jack back to some of the fashion capitals of this world later.

Mallerie giggled slightly as they neared Home Office. Ooh, she couldn't wait to see King Jack's face when he realized there were two Hatters and not just one.

She walked inside, her three companions following her.

She stopped at the receptionist's desk. "Hi, yes," she said, adopting the British accent she had been hearing in England, "I'd like to speak to Alice Hamilton." She didn't leave any room in her voice for letting anyone think that this was a request. No, the receptionist knew that this was demand.

The receptionist typed 'Hamilton, Alice' into her computer. "The one hired by Sir Lester last week?" she asked.

"That's the one," Mallerie said.

"She's in the gym teaching her class right now. I'll call down and let her know you're coming. May I have your names please?"

"Tell her some friends from her boyfriend's home are coming to visit. She'll know us when she sees us."

The receptionist wasn't quite happy with this statement and frowned to let Mallerie know that. Jack stepped forward and said, "Let her know Jack Chase is here for her."

The girl behind the computer smiled, and Ilane felt a stab of jealousy pass through her. She slipped her arm through his and gave the girl an icy glare.

Mallerie frowned, as the girl was still just smiling at the King. "Can you let her know?"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" the receptionist said, picking up the phone. "Hi, this is Mari at the front desk." She pronounced it Mahr-_ree_. "Can you let Ms. Hamilton know that a Jack Chase and company are here to see her."

There was a pause then Mari set down the phone in its cradle. "She'll be expecting you. Take the third door on the right and go down the stairs to the gym, which will be the fourth door on the left. Thank you for stopping by Home Office!" she chirped.

Mallerie led them confidently down the stairs Mari had indicated.

As they approached the fourth door on the left, Jack was able to discern some shouting. He hoped Hatter and Alice were okay with him showing up. Maybe he should have just let Agent Mouse take Alice and Hatter to New York by themselves.

But that didn't explain how she had gotten a job.

Mallerie opened the door and ducked from the three pound weight being thrown. Luckily, it didn't hit anyone. Alice was standing there, tapping her foot. A clear sign to Jack that she was not happy with him. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she asked, voice tight, trying to control her temper.

Mallerie smiled. "We just wanted to make sure you had made it to New York, which you obviously hadn't."

"Well, I'm in London. I would guess not!" she snapped.

A man with disheveled brown hair stepped in front of Alice. "Alice, who are these people?"

"They're from Hatter's world, Stephen," Alice said. "You can move. They're not going to hurt me."

Another man who was stockier than Stephen stepped forward and spoke in a strong Scottish accent. "They're from Wonderland, then, Alice?"

The brunette nodded shortly. "Yes."

The woman's locker room door opened, revealing a blonde with her arm in a sling. "Alice, what's going on?"

"We had some unexpected visitors, Abby," Alice snipped.

"Well, who are they?" the woman named Abby asked.

Ilane held out her hand. "Ilane of Diamonds. I don't believe we were ever properly introduced," she said to Alice, smiling warmly.

Alice accepted it, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you formally, Duchess. Please, call me Alice." Alice's voice was still a little tight.

This time, the men's locker room door opened and out walked Hatter. And Hatter.

Jack stared. There were two Hatters. And he had trouble with one!

Hatter number one moved quickly to Alice's side. "What are you doing here, Jack?" he asked. "Why'd you come to this world?"

Hatter number two said, "So this is the prince Caterpillar put on the throne. I'm not pledging my allegiance to you, King Jack."

Jack stared. "There's two of you?"

Evan's jaw dropped. This must have been what Mallerie was hiding from them.

Ilane sniggered at her fiancée's face. "Oh, Jack. It's not like you haven't met Hatter before."

Abby grinned. "You had no idea there was two, did you?"

"None of us knew before Hatter here landed on his brother at the Looking Glass," Stephen said, crossing his arms. He didn't like the arrogant blond standing before him.

Evan turned to Mallerie. "You knew, didn't you?"

She grinned at him. "Evan, I've been following them for a day now. Yes, I knew."

Ilane giggled again. "It not like you haven't had nightmares about this, Jack. Remember?"

"Yes, but now that it's a reality? Two Hatters?"

"Oi!" the one standing by the blonde Alice identified as Abby said, annoyance clearly heard in his tone. "I don't appreciate being called Hatter! I have a name ya know!" The man rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation.

Alice bit her lip to keep from laughing. Jack ignored her as he turned to Hatter's brother.

Evan was still in shock on some levels. One Hatter was bad enough.

Jack jutted his jaw out slightly. "Yes, well, seeing as how you haven't given it to us, how can we be expected to call you by it?"

The man smirked over at him. "Well, have you asked?"

It was clear to Alice that Cutter and Stephen were unconsciously reaching for their guns to shoot Jack. She was glad she didn't allow weapons other than their fists in here.

Hatter grinned and snickered as his brother shoved him from behind. "You're an arsehole, David."

In the old sweats, shirts and gi's it was almost impossible to tell the two apart.

Mallerie had sat back and was enjoying the show. Watching everyone get pissed was fun, truth be told. Even going to the socialite parties in Wonderland wasn't as fun as this. Then again, those parties weren't all that great to begin with.

Evan stepped forward. "You shouldn't have to be asked to give your king your name."

Hatter number two rolled his eyes. "I've never been exactly loyal to the Hearts family, now have I? Both Dave and I are loyal to the White Queen."

Jack's eyes widened. "But she's a myth!" he said, shock evident in his voice for what seemed the hundredth time that day.

Hatter rolled his eyes. "About as mythical as Connor an' me. Aunt Mirana ain't some fairytale. Though I'm sure Mum would classify her as that."

By now, Jack was sure that he was imagining the whole thing. He turned to Ilane. "Darling, tell me I'm dreaming and I'll wake up in Wonderland where there is only one Hatter."

Ilane let out a cackle. "Sorry, love," she said, "but it's true."

Stephen stepped forward. "Get to the point. Why are you here?" he asked, voice menacing.

Evan stepped forward. "Hatter can't be here. His paperwork is only good for America."

Hatter and Connor exchanged glances. They had just found each other after ten years of being separated. This was not how it was supposed to go. Cutter stepped forward. "You don't know everything about this world. We happen to work for someone who could get that paperwork changed very easily."

Abby snorted. "As if Lester would do it for you, Cutter. You heard him the other day." She deepened her voice in a bad imitation of Lester. "What an extremely awkward moment! There are two Connors! One is bad enough."

The Home Office team had to admit, it was a pretty good imitation of the man's words. Her imitation of his voice was a whole different story.

"We still need to get you back to New York," Ilane said, stepping forward. "If this happened to you, it could have happened to someone else."

Hatter shook his head. "No disrespect Duchess, but I don't think any of the Oysters had a twin brother who is a Wonderlander by birth, who is living in London."

Ilane had to concede that fact.

Alice glanced at her friends. Finally, she said, "You guys knew we couldn't stay forever. Lester only got me temporary immunity here."

Abby nodded. "You'll call, right? And email? And text?"

The brunette smiled at her friend. "Of course, Abby. We'll be back for Christmas. Promise."

Mallerie grinned. This was actually going easier than she had hoped. She had thought that Alice Hamilton would have thrown three fits and fallen in them.

The four men of the Home Office team were huddled so no one could hear them. Cutter said, "So, you said you wanted to start an Anomaly Research Centre, Connor? This would be perfect. We could have a branch in New York. Alice and Hatter already have the training here."

Hatter nodded. "It would make it easier for us to stay in touch too."

Stephen agreed. "It would. Besides, there could be anomalies all over the world we don't know about and America is a big place across the pond."

"It'll have to work," Connor said. "As much as I hate this, it will have to."

Hatter laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know, Con." He dipped his head, a sign he was as nervous as his brother.

The goodbyes complete, along with promises of shopping trips in New York when Abby came to visit, Mallerie walked up to Alice, hands in her pockets. "Listen," the agent started in. "I'm sorry it came to this."

Alice smiled wryly at Mouse. "I am too."

The trip back through the Looking Glass was less eventful than the ones Alice had gone through before. She wasn't knocked unconscious this time, or pulled off track. She sighed as Hatter once again wrapped his arms around her to soften the landing in New York.

Taking a deep breath in, she said, "You know, Hatter, I'm actually starting to miss London."

Hatter pulled her closer. "I am too, luv. Cutter said he'd have Claudia talk to Lester about sending someone over to head the New York branch of the Anomaly Research Centre. So, we'll be in contact with them tons."

Alice smiled up at him. "I know." She pulled him into a kiss.

The trip to the house she shared with her mother was quiet but filled with little touches and contacts, almost as if to remind each other that they were there and alive.

Alice knocked on the door, knowing her Mom would be home at 10:00 in the morning. Hatter had hung back to give mother and daughter time to reconnect.

The door opened. "Alice! You're home!" Carol grabbed her daughter to her. "Don't you ever get yourself captured by British Government agents ever again! I was worried sick!" She dragged her daughter into the house.

The black belt knew there was nothing else to do but sit there and take her mother's words at face value. "Mom, there's someone I want you to meet. His name is David Temple, but he really prefers Hatter. I met him while I was in London. The group that I've been working with these past two weeks wants to get something set up here, so they sent us back."

Carol looked at Hatter who was standing at the doorway. "Well, come on in! I want to hear about this secret agency that kidnapped you, Alice. And why you brought home such a handsome young man with you!"

And so Alice started talking. She spun lie after lie. How Jack had been working for this agency (which was actually partially true, just not the same agency), and had lured her to London to work for them. There she had met Hatter, his twin brother Connor and his flatmate Abby, and, as they say, the rest was history.

They'd tell her about Wonderland later.


	5. Epilogue

Epilogue—Of Dinosaurs and Tea

A/N: This is the last bit of ODaT. Of Dinosaurs and Tea has been part of my life for the past two and a half months that I've been working on this. You don't know how many essays I've put off for this. And, here's a little side note. I don't know how Helen Cutter dies, so, it'll be my own creative way I think that woman deserves to die. And if you guys catch the tiny little Harry Potter reference, I love you. And, Abby's reaction to the presents is sorta based on my friend Cara (who will be in an oneshot related to the ODaT universe soon). Cara is, I swear, ADHD. I am SO sorry it took nine days to get this out. I wrote this back at the end of March and in April I finally got the courage to post. I really am sorry, because school and tennis got in the way. Seriously, I haven't been home before 10ish all week because of tennis. I had an away match every day except Wednesday, when we had a double header at home. That was bad. Yesterday was focused on getting all my music transferred over and I STILL don't have all of it transferred. Okay, so there's no excuse... I got caught up reading Artemis Fowl fanfiction. This, actually story length wise, is my shortest chapter yet. Though chapter one of Of Queens and In-Laws might have this beat.

The song I'm using for the epilogue: **The Future Freaks Me Out by Motion City Soundtrack**. Favorite line from that song? "Oh Betty, won't you—oh fuck it." I also used **Snoopy's Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen** for Christmas morning.

DISCLAIMER: Honestly, if I owned Alice and Primeval, I'd be rich and not making a children's book. However, I do own Harry Lester.

**Five Years After the Spinosaurus Event in London—2014**

Alice Temple stood on her tiptoes. "Do you see them yet?" She wasn't as tall as her husband, David "Hatter" Temple, and couldn't see over the top of all the people in JFK International Airport.

Hatter shook his head. "Not yet, luv," he said, as he craned his own neck, looking for his twin brother and his sister-in-law.

"Dammit, the plane landed half an hour ago! They should be here by now!" Alice said, crossing her arms.

"Just because they should doesn't mean the will," Hatter reminded his wife. "Is Carol still at the ARCNY?" Anomaly Research Centre: New York, or ARCNY for short.

"Yeah, she said she'd cover for us until then. She's hoping no anomalies open this week. Mom wants a peaceful Christmas this year." Over the five years that they'd been living together in New York and traveling to London, Hatter and Alice had had one peaceful Christmas that was not interrupted by some creature—be it future or past—coming through to ruin their plans. It had annoyed Carol to no end.

Hatter snorted. "I want one too. I still can't get over the fact that it took Connor six months after we left to convince Abby that he actually did love her."

"Honestly, me too. I mean, I thought I had her convinced when we left. But apparently, no. It took her hanging off a cliff with Connor holding onto her dear life to convince her. I was ready to fly over to England and slap some sense into myself."

"I'm just glad Lester let them have a break for those two weeks they came and visited," Hatter said, glancing around the room again for Connor and Abby. "They'd still be in denial over it, I swear. He's like Da in that aspect. Da actually let Mom leave him before he would ever admit it to himself. It took Chess, Mally, and Thackery hitting him over the head with teapots, cups and scones before he actually admitted it out loud. Aunt Mirana just laughed at him then." He looked thoughtful. "Y'know, I'm surprised that Chess even did something about it. He's not so much a coward as he doesn't like being in the middle of conflict."

Alice smirked. "Like Connor."

"Like Connor what?" a familiar voice behind them said.

Alice spun to see her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. "Abby! Connor! You made it!" She practically tackled Abby in a hug that sent the blonde stumbling back a few steps.

Hatter gave his brother a hug. "Good to see you, Conn."

"It's great to see you again, Dave," Connor said, returning the hug.

It was clear to everyone around them that these people might live on different continents but they were as tight-knit as the families that lived next door to each other. Alice released Abby and said, "Oh, my god, Abby. Are you alright? Cutter sent us an email about the last anomaly to open. You broke your arm again?"

Abby snorted. "Sadly, yes. And you weren't there to sprain your ankle," she said, grinning. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Alice said, looping her arm through Abby's. "C'mon, the car's outside. We'll let the guys get the luggage."

Hatter and Connor exchanged an exasperated glance. Connor rubbed the back of his neck and Hatter shrugged as if to say_ Women._ "Guess we'd better grab the luggage," Connor said, picking up the handle to his suitcase.

Hatter picked up Abby's suitcase and shook his head. "What is it about women and gossiping?" he asked, as he watched his wife and sister-in-law chatting away in front of them.

Connor shrugged. "I don't know. But I can bet you they're squealing over the fact that Claudia's pregnant."

This stopped Hatter in his tracks, causing the people who were walking behind them to bump into them. This, in turn, caused them to call out obscenities to Hatter which he ignored. "Claudia's pregnant? Is Lester pulling her off the team?"

"Over Cutter's dead body. He refuses to work without his wife. And Lester really doesn't want Abby and me in charge. Stephen's visiting family in Yorkshire right now with Ruby, and Abby and I are here. So, Lester had to leave Cutter and Claudia there."

Four years previously in 2010, Hatter and Abby had traveled to London three times. Once for Abby and Connor's wedding, the second time for Claudia and Cutter's wedding, and the third time for Stephen's marriage to his fiancée, Ruby. Hatter was glad that they were on the government payroll because otherwise they'd have never been able to afford three trips to London. Alice was glad that it had been Connor and Abby's turn to fly over to New York for Christmas.

Alice looked over her shoulder. "Come on, you two! We don't have all day!" she called. "Let's go!"

"Coming," Connor hollered back. "Dave, how is it that we ended up with two of the bossiest women in Underland and in Aboveland?"

"I dunno. Mum and Claudia might have them beat."

Hatter had learned to drive in New York only because Alice hated to. She had grown up in the big city, but that didn't mean she had to like driving in its traffic. She much preferred the highway driving some of the anomalies required them to drive to. Settling in the car, Alice and Abby were in the back seat, with Hatter in the driver's seat with Connor in the passenger's seat.

The twins were silent as they listened to their respective wives gossip about the news back in London. A gasp confirmed their earlier suspicions—Alice and Abby were talking about Claudia. "She's pregnant? How far along?" Alice asked, excitement lacing her voice.

"Eight weeks."

The soft Christmas music that was playing in the car was covered by Alice's scream of delight. "Oh my god!"

Hatter covered his right ear with his free hand. "And there goes my hearing, luv," he said, glancing back at his wife.

"Sorry, but Claudia's pregnant!"

"Oh, I didn't hear it the first time," Hatter said, sarcasm lacing his tone.

Connor snorted. That was a typical Hatter response that sounded like their mother. "Yeah, Cutter's over the moon. Apparently, Helen never wanted kids and Cutter did."

"Is that bitch dead yet?" Alice asked, both young women leaning forward. They were including their husbands in the conversation finally.

Connor and Abby smirked at each other. "Finally. It was hilarious when we found out. Well, not really, but ironic. We found her body in the Permian era. According to Ryan, it looked like she'd been trying to befriend a creature. When Ryan and Cutter told us, I honestly hoped she'd befriend a Gorganopsid. That thing wouldn't have left a trace."

Alice snorted. "It would have been nice." She'd met Helen Cutter when she'd accidentally popped out of an anomaly the New York team—consisting of Hatter, Alice, Carol, and a SWAT team was permanently assigned to ARCNY—was investigating. "She was a bitch."

"That she was. I think Cutter's glad she's finally gone and not able to screw with our minds again," Connor said. "I know Stephen is."

"I bet he is. The things she insinuated," Alice said. "Really, I'm just glad Cutter believed Stephen on that and not Helen."

Abby nodded. "It's a very good thing. That probably would have ruined a very good friendship if he had."

Hatter parked in the parking garage by his and Alice's warehouse turned house. It was the warehouse that had originally housed the New York Looking Glass. Upon agreement with Jack and Ilane Heart, they had agreed to control the flow of people through the New York portal. Abby and Connor had allowed the London portal to be moved to their flat.

Alice opened the door to the couple's great room. Abby glanced around. "You guys redecorated since two years ago."

"Yeah, I got tired of the white that we had," Alice said. "We decided to go with gold."

"We meaning 'I'," Hatter quipped to his brother as they hauled the suitcases in the door.

Alice slapped her husband's arm. "I included you in the decision-making process, if you choose to remember correctly."

"Alice? Are Connor and Abby here?"

Alice's mother, Carol, lived in the apartment above the Temples. "Yes, Mom!" Alice called back.

The blonde paleontologist poked her head into the room from the hole in the ceiling. It was similar to a fireman's pole. "Hi you two!"

Abby smiled up at her friend's mother. "Hi, Mrs. Hamilton. How have you been?"

"I've been good." She moved her head to look at her daughter and son-in-law. "Harry is watching the NYADD. He'll let me know if anything happens."

Harry was Harry Lester, the brother of Sir James Lester.

Alice nodded. "Good to know. Abby and I are going out shopping, Mom. You wanna come? Girls day out?"

Carol turned her head to look at her son-in-law and his twin brother. "You two can listen for the telephone?"

Hatter nodded. "Of course."

—•—•—•—

The first shop the two Temple women and Carol visited was a little boutique off 3rd Avenue called Accentuate.

Abby glanced around. "Did we come here two years ago?"

Her brunette sister-in-law shook her head. "No. They just opened it six months ago."

"It is a cute little place though," Carol said, glancing at the clothes on the wall. She spotted a cute little sweater that she liked and went over to it. Her daughter and Abby followed. She held it up. "What do you think?"

Alice tilted her head. "What do you want to put under it?" she asked.

"Because that can make all the difference," Abby finished, eyeing the article of clothing critically.

Carol rolled her eyes. "I know how to pair pieces of clothing together. I taught you Alice."

"But, Mom, sometimes I swear you're stuck in the 70s."

"Just like Wonderland is stuck in the 60s?" Abby asked, snickering. She'd met Jack and Ilane of Hearts again, under better circumstances, for their wedding and for Hatter and Alice's wedding. Abby had been shocked that Jack had shown up in a bright red suit that clashed horribly with the teal and purple of Alice's wedding. Luckily, Stephen and Jack were around the same size and Ruby had insisted that her fiancée bring an extra suit.

"Not to that extent, no," Alice said, glancing at the teal silk blouse that hung nearby.

The brunette picked it up and held it up to Abby. "I think this'd look good on you," Alice said.

Abby took it. "Hm. Maybe. I'll try it on. Are there any jeans?"

"What size?" Carol asked, browsing the jeans near the two younger women.

"Two," the blonde woman said. "Alice, haven't you ever wondered what Connor's and Hatter's parents are like?"

"Well, yeah, I never got to meet them when I was in Wonderland. We were only in the City and the Forest of Wabe," Alice said, pulling a purple tunic off the clothing rack. "I would like to see Charlie again. Last time I saw him was at Ilane and Jack's wedding."

Abby laughed. "That crazy old Knight that called you JustAlice that whole time? Or Alice of Legend."

"Well, I ain't blonde, and I ain't a 7 year old girl. I'm not the Alice of Legend," Alice quipped, before smirking at Abby. "You might have fit the bill for an Alice if your name was Alice."

"I'm glad it isn't. Could you imagine? Both of us being Alices and being married to Connor and Hatter? It'd be confusing."

Alice held up a different blue dress. "What do you think? Has Connor ever mentioned his parents' names to you?"

Abby looked at it. "I like it. And I don't think so. He's never really mentioned where he grew up. I think Cutter knows more than he's letting on, but I can't get hold of him while I'm here."

The blonde nodded as her mother walked out of the dressing room, teal silk shirt on. "Ooh, Mom! I love it!"

Carol twirled. "Not very practical for the field but I think it would be good for that party I'm going to on New Year's Eve."

Alice grinned. "Who asked you?" It had taken her a while, but eventually she had warmed up to the idea of her mother dating again. She missed her father with every bone in her body, but with Hatter and the original ARC team helping her, she understood her father's death.

The older woman blushed. "Harry."

Abby and Alice both let out whoops of joy, earning them a glare from the shop's proprietor. "Really, Mom?" asked Carol's daughter. "That's great! I thought he was looking at you like he wanted to ask you out."

Carol's face resembled the Red Queen's when she was mad, all red and flushed, though for different reasons.

—•—•—•—

The television was turned onto the news and the noise was low. The teapot on the stove was being warmed up. Connor and Hatter were settled on the couch, halfway facing each other.

Connor sighed. "Y'know," he started rubbing the back of his head. "Abby's been asking questions about Underland and if our parents are still alive."

"So has Alice," Hatter said, twirling his hat on his right forefinger. "Mum'll be pissed she wasn't able to participate in our weddings."

Connor chuckled. "Yeah, she will. Aunt Mirana will be all like, 'Oh, I'm so happy for you!' and do her imitation of a feather trying to stay afloat."

"I never thought of it that way, but that's sort of what she looks like," Hatter agreed. "And Chess will be grinning and evaporating everything because he'll be ecstatic that there's another Alice in the family."

"This is the first time I've really thought about Underland in a while. I want to see Mum and Dad again, but I don't know if Abby would be up for it."

"I don't know if Alice will be up for it. She only experienced the bad of Underland," Hatter said, standing up to go attend to the screaming teapot. "What kind of tea do you want?" he called, preparing a berry flavor that Alice favored for himself. He'd taken a liking to it too.

Connor shrugged, tossing his own hat around in the air. "I don't care. Whatever you're having."

Hatter came out a minute later, carrying two cups of tea. "Here ya go."

"Thanks."

Connor took a sip of the tea, noticing how the different berries were blended to make just the right combination of sweet and tart. "So, have we heard anything from Jack and Ilane?" he asked, motioning to the Looking Glass that had taken residence in the Temple household.

Hatter shook his head. "No. All's quiet on the Western front."

The younger of the two raised an eyebrow. "Reading again, are we?"

"World War I and World War II are actually quite fascinating. Plus, I was noticing that we humans on this side of the rabbit hole and in Underland are actually quite a bloody race," Hatter said, taking a sip.

"Hitler wanted power. How much different was that from what the Red Queen Iracebeth did?" Connor asked.

"Not really. Hitler favored one race—Aryans—and Iracebeth favored humans. Hitler hated Jews and Iracebeth hated non-humans. As a result, we have more humans in Underland."

"And both of them were insane," Connor concluded.

Hatter nodded again. "That they were."

Both men sighed. "You know," Connor started in, "I miss home. I kind of do want to go back and see Mum and Dad again."

"It'd be nice. We could try and talk the girls into it."

Both Temple men turned to the front door at the sound of it unlocking. "We're back!" Alice called, pushing the bags into the house in front of her.

Hatter and Connor bother jumped up to immediately relieve their respective wives of the burden they were carrying.

After all the purchases were put away, Alice lit the Christmas tree that was standing in the corner of their apartment.

Abby gasped. "Oh! I forget to tell you! We brought gifts from the ARC in London for you guys!"

Hatter grinned. "It's a very good thing because we have presents to send back with you too."

Abby rushed to the room she and Connor were staying for their stay in New York. "Here they are!" she said, placing the presents under the tree.

Alice smirked. "I swear Abby, sometimes you're just like a little kid."

The blonde turned to glare at her friend playfully. "If I am, you are too."

A glance at the clock told the brunette that it was time to start dinner. "What do we want for dinner?" Alice asked her family. Connor and Hatter were fighting over the remote, Carol was shaking her head at her son-in-law and his twin brother, and Abby was laughing.

The Temple twins looked up at each other. "Food?"

Abby slapped her head, shaking it. "Yes, food. Pizza sounds good. I don't really want you to do anything complicated. Tomorrow's Christmas after all."

The brunette nodded. "Pepperoni okay with you two? I swear it's all Hatter will eat."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "It's all Connor will eat."

Alice picked up the phone and dialed Hatter's favorite pizza place. After conversing with the teller and arranging to have the pizza delivered, she collapsed next to her husband. "So, we were wondering," she said to her husband, "what was Wonderland like when you were growing up as kids?"

The look of surprise on Connor and Hatter's face was enough to want to make Alice and Abby giggle, but they didn't. "Why do you ask?" Hatter asked, being the first to regain his composure.

Abby shrugged. "We were curious. How much different was it from kids here?"

"Well, we weren't normal kids," Connor said slowly.

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

The Temple twins glanced at each other again. "I think explaining why would require a trip home," Hatter declared, glancing between Alice, Abby and Carol.

Carol shrugged and said, "Harry and I can keep watch on the Anomaly Detection Device for a while. It should be quite for a while. You guys can go through the Looking Glass when you guys go to London. I assume you'll want to tell Lester and Cutter."

It seemed to Hatter and Connor that there was no way out of this now. They wanted to go home but if things were going to be explained to their mother and father? "Fine," Hatter sighed. "We can leave after New Years. It'll give us time to get Lester to agree."

Alice and Abby exchanged grins, a tinge of worry in both their eyes. Their husbands agreed way too easily.

As plans were made for after New Years, and the pizza was delivered, they discussed what changes could have been made in Underland.

—•—•—•—

Alice was the second to awake on Christmas day. She suspected, from the scent in the air, her mother had gotten up and was preparing the Hamilton traditional Christmas breakfast.

She pulled on her bathrobe and stumbled into the kitchen. "Morning, Mom."

"Merry Christmas, Alice!" Carol chirped.

Hatter had felt his wife wake and go into the kitchen. He pulled on his bathrobe and followed her out, like Bayard on a scent trail. "Morning, Carol," he said. "Tea?"

"On the table. Just the way you like it. Alice, I have the Christmas coffee in the pot," Carol said, stirring the eggs that were being scrambled.

It finally clicked that it was Christmas. As Alice passed her mom, she kissed her cheek and said, "Merry Christmas."

"Happy Christmas!" rang through the house.

Alice covered her ears. "And Abby's up."

The blonde bounded in, dragging her own husband with her, who was still yawning. "Happy Christmas, Alice! Happy Christmas, Carol! Happy Christmas, Hatter!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, Abby!" Carol chimed in from her spot by the stove.

Hatter and Alice were already too deeply engrossed in their respective drinks to do anything but nod tiredly at their family.

Connor accepted a cup of Christmas tea—one of Hatter's blends, he could tell—from his brother. He nodded his thanks. "When's breakfast?" he asked.

Carol set the ham on the table. "In about two minutes. I was afraid I'd have to call you four like teenagers."

"We stayed up later than you did, Mom," Alice added, taking another sip of the mint and chocolate flavored coffee.

"True," the older blonde admitted as she set down the fruit salad. "Well, breakfast's ready."

After Carol said grace—another custom they followed only on Christmas—they dug in. Alice asked, "Are we going to Christmas Mass?"

Carol and Robert had raised Alice as a Lutheran. While Alice never really believed in their doctrine, she believed there was a higher power, so she dragged Hatter to the Easter and Christmas Masses.

Abby nodded. "I was actually kinda looking forward to it. It's always fun to sing the hymns along with the choir."

Alice grinned. "Of course."

Carol nodded. "I was going to go with or without you four."

Hatter looked up from his eggs. "If you want to, we'll go."

"After presents," Connor chimed in, after swallowing his bite of ham.

Connor and Hatter weren't religious at all, so being in church wasn't painful or something amazing to them. Underland wasn't big on religion, except following the Oraculum.

Well, the girls would learn that soon. When they got to Underland that was.

So, sadly, this is the end of my first foray into SyFy's Alice and Primeval, Of Dinosaurs and Tea. But not of, what some friends on facebook have titled "EPIC SAGA!"

There were times I wanted to throw my computer against the wall. And, after 3 months, I am finished with this. There are parts of this story I am not totally happy with but they were necessary. I hope you guys liked this.

So, until the sequel.

Fairfarren—Zabby.


End file.
